Butterflies & Hurricanes
by lado-lunar
Summary: This is the story of Sae. An easy-going exorcist that enjoys the little things in life. Fighting for a brighter future, bonds must be tightened and discoveries must be made. Life has never been simple and never will be. / KandaXOC OC -DISCONTINUED-
1. Sleepy something

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own D. Gray-Man. Just Sae, my OC.

Since the responses to my two oneshots _Little Things_ and _It's Just Enough_ (both featuring my OC Sae and Kanda) were really good, I decided to write a long story – instead of oneshots again – with Sae and her story in D. Gray-Man's universe.

Please read the notes bellow and at the bottom of the chapter.

- I must say that Sae will probably be a little different than she was in my one-shots and this story will be _mainly_ in her POV. You are warned ;)

- HUGE thanks to all of the people that reviewed my two one-shots and encouraged me to write a longer story, thank you very very much! Obrigado! =)

- A special thanks to SpidersBlood for her support and Tzedek for the inspiration I got from her wonderful story 'So Troublesome' (Go read it!). Thank you to both =)

- This story is about Sae, so the first chapters are mostly about her, like an introduction so you can get to know her and understand stuff about her. The romance will be there…some way or another. It probably won't be the most romantic story ever but that's because of my lack of ability to write things that contain too much fluff, I really can't…and seriously, why fluff if it's Kanda that we're talking about here? It's kind of incompatible. Still there will be romance, a soft, light and very profound one. That's my opinion and that's what I'm working on, so I truly hope that my story can transmit that feeling =D Let me know what you think when it's over! (and while it goes too XD)

**- Important Note** – As I've said in my profile, this chapter is like a preview of the story. Until I update the second and the rest of the chapters of this fan fiction will pass a lot of time, it could be months. The reason is simple, right now I don't have the time and when I'll have the time to work on this, it will be 'for once and for all' and I'll finish it for good. So please be patient with me and wait =) I'm very sorry for this. Any questions, just ask.

I apologize in advance for any mistakes and any English spelling errors, not my language, **sorry**!!

And enjoy!

_________________________

**1st Chapter**

**Sleepy-Something**

"Damnit! I'm late!"

'Stupid Komui wanting me to go on a mission again TODAY! So frustrating!'

I was seriously pissed. In a really, really bad mood.

That's what happens when SOMEONE – insert K-O-M-U-I here – wants me to go on a mission when I just got from another one and slept almost NOTHING! It's not healthy damnit! Does he want me to die or something?

I need to sleep! Or I'll be in a really bad mood like RIGHT NOW!

Right. Breathe. In. Out. C'mon. Over again.

I tried to calm down while making my way through the big empty corridors and many stairs of H.Q. walking fast to Komui's office to get the info on this mission.

When I reached the entrance of Komui's office my sleepiness had almost overcame my bad mood.

Damn, I was tired.

Now I was in to a fight to keep my eyes open and brain working. This would only stop when I finally slept everything I needed or if it was truly, I mean _truly_ necessary. And even if I was sleepy, there was a risk that I occasionally snapped at someone without really meaning it.

Don't get me wrong.

I don't read my own future in my hands or anything creepy like that, I just know from experience...which, if I think about it, it's...stupid, really. Knowing what happens when you're dead tired from experience...sad.

Well...it's Komui's fault!

Why?

'Cause right now I'm pissed at him.

But never mind because at this very second what I am is truly sleepy. I can't even formulate evil plans of revenge.

Sigh.

There were voices inside Komui's office but I stepped in anyway. If he didn't want me here he wouldn't have called right? So what was the point in waiting outside?

I managed a sleepy glare to the usual mess that was Komui's office.

I looked at the people in the office.

Lenalee, Komui, Reever, Kanda and... some guy with white hair? Ah! The new kid that Kanda mentioned earlier when I bumped into him after I came back from my mission.

Beansprout, Kanda had called him. Well, to be exact, Kanda said something like _Moyashi_, but since I understand close to nothing of Japanese, I had to ask for an English translation of the name and, I've still got no idea how, Kanda in an unseen moment of _pure kindness_, said it to me. Notice the sarcasm please.

I took some steps into the room and Reever spotted me.

"Ah! Sae, you're here."

"Yeah, yeah" I waved tiredly.

The others looked at me noticing my presence.

I stared at them sleepily.

"You look a little pale Sae" Komui remarked looking at my face.

I threw him the best sleepy-sour-look I could.

"I came back 6 hours ago and slept like 4hours. Do you expect me to look full of life?" I asked sarcastically.

Komui threw his arms in the air in a dramatic fashion. "Oh noooo! Are you angry at meeee?" He asked in a voice full of despair.

I swear this guy is a 4 year old kid. It's the only explanation for the stupid dramatic reactions.

I gave him a bored stare. And proceeded to yawn with my hand in front of my mouth. Good manners are always good, okay?

"No, I'm sleepy at you"

I got blank stares as answers, so I sighed and made my way to the sofa sitting in between Kanda and the Beansprout guy.

People – besides Lavi, but he's not truly a person, is he? – can't understand my sleepy-humour so I just let it go. No use for disappointment over this.

The new guy was looking at me curiously.

Lenalee stepped in, smiling "Sae, this is the new recruit. I don't know if you have met him already."

I looked at him sleepily and muttered "Beansprout"

"Eh?" The new guy asked with wide confused eyes. At my left side I heard Kanda smirking. The white haired guy eyed him suspiciously.

Despite the white hair, he was young, very young actually. He had grey eyes and a weird mark on the right side of his face crossing his eye. His right hand was rather strange...big with a weird colour...parasite-type innocence maybe?

He seemed a little lost but it's only normal since he's new here and he's just a kid.

I extended my hand and gave him a small smile "Call me Sae"

He gave a slightly nervous smile and shook my hand with his. "Allen Walker".

I nodded at him.

"Okay then!" Komui clapped his hands together happily, demanding our attention. His face turned serious. "Sae, you are to go with Kanda and Allen to Italy, but you'll continue the travel a bit and go to the South West of Italy."

Lenalee gave me the book thing with the detailed info as Komui spoke. I mouthed a 'thanks' to her, not wanting to interrupt. She smiled back.

"Am I going to do this mission alone?" I asked after taking a peek at the info.

"No, Lavi will be waiting for you at your stop"

"Hm, okay" I said looking at the book in my hands going through the most important details of my mission.

"Read the files and you'll know everything you need" Komui added even though he knew that I was already reading some of the info. "Understood, all of you?" He asked the three of us.

We nodded.

"Okay, then meet me in the Underground Water Path in 20 minutes."

________________

After going to my room to get my exorcist's coat and putting my innocence attached to my belt, I went to the Underground Water Path.

Note that my exorcist's uniform is not like Lenalee's. No idea how she can wear things that short... Mine is like female version of Kanda's uniform, with all the more feminine cut and stuff. The coat is a little bit shorter though – it goes only a little past my knees.

It's coooool! I even hugged Johnny in my happiness, when he gave it to me. He blushed so much. Tapp and I had a laugh at his account. It was fun.

But returning to the present, I spotted Komui and Reever when I went near the boat, standing there to see us off. I patted them both on their backs at the same time. "See you later" I said with a smile, walking past them to the boat. "Later" They said at the same time.

Kanda and Toma, the finder, were already in there. Allen was buttoning his exorcist's coat.

I sat there waiting until Allen got on the boat and with my elbows on my knees and hands cradling my head, I closed my eyes trying to turn off the world and get a little rest.

The minutes passed on the boat were silent. Thank God for that. I'm not in the mood to be alive... Yeah...you heard me. Sleepy-humour again. I make up the weirdest sleepy-somethings ever. Blame Komui _s'il vous plaît_.

But then the worst part arrived. The part when we have to jump on the moving train. I mean...it's awesome...If you're not half asleep. Damn, I need to wake up for some moments, hopefully I can keep up.

Allen was a little nervous. "Please hurry, the train has come!" Toma said to us. Allen almost shrieked "Whaaat? We're going on that?!"

I ran behind Kanda and at the moment we jumped I grabbed his coat's sleeve. Just to be safe. I was too tired and jumping around like I was, was a dangerous thing to do.

Kanda glanced at me but didn't said anything nor shook me off. I was grateful for that. I'm not really sure Kanda would have liked to be used as a lifeguard or something, but if I'm not dead yet, it's a good sign.

When we were landing on the moving train I let go of Kanda's sleeve and managed to land safely. Uff, good.

The Allen guy sweatdropped. "Illegally boarding the train..."

"We've always done it this way" I replied with a little smile. He managed himself pretty well though.

Toma opened that opening – no idea what it's called – on the top of the train and went down to the cabin underneath. Next were Kanda and Allen.

When I got to the hole/opening (let's call it that) I felt a little dizzy.

Ugh. Great. Just what I needed. To be freaking dizzy for lack of sleep _and_ rest.

I closed my eyes for some moments and started to come down the train's hole/opening.

Allen was looking up at me nervously "Do you need help?"

"No, thanks." I replied. I noticed Kanda looking at me from the corner of his eye.

I let myself fall and landed perfectly on my feet.

Good.

Did I mention that I needed to SLEEP?

I guess I did...Sooo sorry about that!

Yeah. Right.

Now I'm snapping at no one... But I need to sleeeeep...

Okay, that aside, Toma was talking to a guy from the train.

"We're exorcists from the Black Order, please get a room ready."

"The Black...?!" The guy started, but noticing the cross on Kanda's coat, he immediately bowed "Y-yes sir!"

While Allen was asking something to Toma, I felt Kanda's eyes on me. I looked at him with a sleepy stare. Now that the hard part had come and gone, my sleepiness was getting back in full force.

"What?"

He looked at my face for some moments before replying. "You're tired."

I looked at him blankly "No kidding." I said with a bored tone and sighed.

I wasn't in the mood to be easygoing as I usually am, but I knew he understood that. Kanda isn't stupid or anything close to that.

"C'mon" I said to Kanda and the others, following the guy from the train to our cabin.

When we reached it, Kanda opened the door and went to sit on the comfy...hum, what should I call them? Comfy chairs? Comfy benches? Well...I'll call them comfy sofas. They are so comfy that they can pass as a sofa everywhere.

Anyway, Kanda sat next to the window and I sat next to him. Allen sat on the sofa opposite of Kanda and Toma stayed outside.

I made myself comfortable on the comfy sofa, crossed my arms as if I was embracing myself somewhat and leaned on Kanda's shoulder closing my eyes.

A suicidal little move on my part, I know, but to hell with the caution! I'm too tired to think straight.

I felt Kanda stiffen a little and he muttered dangerously "_What are you doing_?"

I opened one eye to look at him and answered "I'm going to sleep. Wake me up before you leave the train" And closed my eye again relaxing against him.

I felt Kanda's death glare but he didn't pushed me off.

"Che"

I chuckled. I wasn't murdered by Kanda today and I got my way with him on this, it's like a miracle 2 in 1.

I opened my eyes again just to look at the reactions. Well, Allen was looking at me with wide eyes (I grinned at him) and Kanda was ignoring me now. Which I didn't mind as long as I could still sleep on him.

Allen's golem went to rest on top of his head. Maybe it was his little throne? Ehehe

He's called Tincampi but he looked nothing like the golems I've ever seen. He looks like has a mind of his own and likes to fly around, I think he's cute.

I closed my eyes and listened to the conversation for a little while – great bonding time between Allen and Kanda there. Pff. But Allen, although a little uninformed about a lot of things seemed like a decent guy.

I dozed off eventually thinking that life was great now that I could finally sleep.

I was tired damnit.

__________________

I woke up feeling my shoulders being shaken.

I have no idea how much time I slept but I knew that it wasn't enough!

So I buried my head more into the warmth that was by my side and hoped that whatever was trying to wake me went away.

No such luck.

"_Hey!_ Wake up now!" Was the dangerous growl of Kanda right next to my head.

Hmm. Right. Train. Travel. Wake me up before you leave. Kanda's shoulder..._shit_.

Wake up _now_!

I snapped my eyes open and automatically sat straight.

The cabin was empty, only I and Kanda were there. The later glaring at me.

"Where are Allen and Toma?" I asked, ignoring the look he was giving me.

"They left while I was trying to wake _you_." He glared pointedly at me.

I laughed nervously. "Yeah...sorry about that...and thanks for your shoulder but hey, what are you still doing here? Get going!" I finished narrowing my eyes at him.

He narrowed his eyes back at me.

Oh, the empathy. Can't you just feel it between us?

It's there, in the narrowed eyes.

"Bye then" He got up and went to the exit.

"Good luck" I said while he was opening the door, and when he was almost closing it I called "Hey, Kanda?"

He stopped and looked back at me.

"Stay safe" I said with a small smile.

He nodded and the moment before he closed the door I hear him mutter "You too".

I smiled openly at this, even if I was alone in the cabin now.

But I felt something twisting in my gut that I always experienced when any of my comrades...no, when any of my _friends_ went on a mission.

Preoccupation. Nervousness. Fear. Terrified at what can happen.

But I'm not the kid that I used to be and I have responsibilities, to my superiors, to my comrades, to my friends, to the people who are out there being threatened by the Earl, and to the _world_. So I do my best not to be bothered by those feelings of fear. I kill them, smother them, and put them someplace of my head where it won't bother my work. I know it will never go away, they are my friends and I'll never cease to worry about them, but right now those feelings are of no use.

They'll get in the way.

And at the same time it's my sanity that's in stake too.

So now, I moved to sit where Kanda was sitting because it's really warm and relax once again on the sofa.

Since I'm by myself, I won't sleep. The travel shouldn't be long now, I'll soon reach my destiny.

I leaned my head on the window and watched the fast moving landscape absently.

I'm glad that I slept a bit, I'm better now, even if I'm still not at my best.

Time to regain a little of my good mood. I would need it with Lavi.

___________________

Whoa! First chapter out!

I hope you enjoyed this and please let me know what you think! :D

_S'il__ vous plait_ – please (in French)

I have to say that when I was writing « _Wake me up before you leave the train_ » the only thing that crossed my mind and made me have to stop before writing it was " Wake me up before you go-go". I swear! I was almost having an argument with myself because I was all 'wake me up before you GO-GO'and then 'Nooooo! It's not that!'... It was a big struggle as you can imagine...*sigh* XD

So that's it for today. Review! I'll reply ;) And keep reading, Sae has still many things to be discovered by you! ^^

I'll see you in some months =)

Over and out,

_lado-lunar_


	2. It's Hot

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own D. Gray-Man. Just Sae, my OC.

I apologize in advance for any mistakes and any English spelling errors, as usual. Although most of them are just lack of attention =P

And enjoy!

____________________________________________________________________

**2****nd Chapter**

**It's Hot**

Right now I'm in a hotel room, still in the South of Italy, in front of a mirror buttoning my exorcist's coat.

Lavi and I completed our mission some days ago, but Komui told us to stay here for a few days – who knows his reasons…even though he was jealous as hell – and some minutes ago Lavi told me that he had talked to Komui and that he was supposed to go back to Head Quarters and I was supposed to go, in some minutes, to the train station and that Kanda would be there waiting for me and he would tell me what the new mission was about.

Good thing that our hotel was near the train station or I would have to run since being late to meet Kanda is asking for premature death. The guy has no patience at all.

So now as I stared at my reflection, 'cause that's what you do when you're in front of a mirror…unless you look away but then what would be the point of being in front of the mirror?

Right. I'll get to the point.

So I did what I was supposed to do, I stared at myself, and because I'm such a nice girl I'll even tell you what I'm seeing.

A medium height young woman (I'm 18 mind you!) with pale white skin, blue (with a little green) eyes, dark brown and a little wild hair that goes some inches bellow my shoulders but right now is up in a messy ponytail, my hair is parted on the left side of my head as well as my bangs, that cover most of my right eyebrow. And a fit figure I guess…not like Lenalee though, she's more skinny than me.

I'm not a goddess or anything.

I don't have thick eyelashes – I have average ones.

I don't have high eyebrows – they are just plain normal.

I don't have an oh-so-pretty snub nose – I have a straight one.

I don't have perfect full lips – I have thin ones.

And I don't have huge breasts – I have proportional ones!

And in the end I truly don't care. I don't like people for their faces, I like them for their personalities. Obviously I have an opinion on beauty, I'm not blind. But just as I don't care if my friends are pretty or not I expect them to be the same with me and never judge me on my looks.

C'mon, that's just stupid.

I'll shut up now!

So moving on, I'm dressed in my super cool exorcist's uniform, obviously.

And that's it.

I went to the bed in the middle of my hotel room and snatched my innocence.

It looks like a simple black stick with a white cross on it.

I attached it to the belt of my coat and looked around to see if I was missing something.

Realizing nothing was amiss, I snatched the room's keys and locked the door after leaving the room.

Then I went to the door just beside the one I exited seconds ago and knocked.

The door opened and Lavi gave me a grin as a greeting. I smiled back.

I like Lavi, and as much cliché it may seem, he's like the brother I've never had, or like a cousin…whatever.

We became friends fast after he joined the Order with Bookman. He's one of my partners in crime, we make fun of everything and everyone, including ourselves. The time I spend with him is always a good one. But of course, occasionally, I snap at him and, according to him, I'm really really mean.

Every time I've got _no idea_ what he's talking about.

He's a wonderful friend and I can confide in him…but since he's extraordinarily smart, most of the time I don't even have to tell him anything, he just knows.

_He knows._

"You're going already?" He asked me leaving the door open for me to enter.

"Yeah" I answered closing the door beside me.

"Better not to leave Yuu waiting for too long" He teased.

I rolled my eyes "Yes, he might kill me in broad day light if I'm some seconds late"

Lavi laughed.

"So, do you have my bat-golem?" I asked him.

"You mean the _wireless-golem_." He corrected staring pointedly at me.

"Yeah, yeah, that. But it looks like a bat so what can I do?" I dismissed him waving my hand.

He went to his bedside table and picked one of the golems that were there. "You could call it by its name?"

"Sorry, can't help it" I smirked at him while he put the golem in my stretched hand.

He chuckled. "You won't turn it on?" He asked motioning to the golem I was putting now in my pocket with his hand.

"No, imagine what people would do if they saw a thing with bat wings flying around?" I asked raising my eyebrows.

He laughed a little "I get your point"

"Well, I slept everything that I needed and I'm finally recovered so I'll get going. How long will you stay here?"

"Oh, I'm just waiting for gramps to show up and then we'll go" Lavi said scratching his neck.

I nodded.

"Okay then, good luck" Lavi wished me with a smile patting my back when I was turning to get out of the room.

"Stay safe!" I said energetically messing his already messy hair with my hand.

"Hey!" He slapped my hand away giving me a little glare and I laughed at him. "_Adios_!"

"Bye!"

_________________________________

I walked to the train station with my coat's sleeves rolled up to my elbows.

It was a sunny warm day and because Italy's weather is so similar to the one of the country where I was born I was feeling rather content, enjoying my little stroll.

You see, everyone in the Order was born in very different countries all over the world.

We all speak English with each other.

For example, Komui and Lenalee are from China, Kanda is from Japan, Reever is from Australia, Jerry is from India, Daisya is from Turkey, General Tiedoll is from Spain, Marie is half from Nigeria and half from France (don't ask, it's what he told me), Lavi and Bookman I'm not sure because they never told me (mystery), Tapp is from South Africa, Johnny is from the United States of America and from what I realized by the accent, Allen is British.

And I'm from Portugal.

A little, beautiful European country bathed by the ocean…well, at least in my opinion it is a wonderful place.

I was born there, it's my home and even though now I have a new home, my homeland is always in my heart.

I'm sure everyone in the Order has their homelands in their hearts.

It's bittersweet.

When I got near, I saw Kanda alone, sitting on a bench in the train station's building shadow. He had his arms crossed, eyes closed and a frown on his face.

Good old Kanda. I smiled.

When I got nearer and inspected him head to toe with my eyes, as I usually do, for any eventual _problems_ in his mission. I noticed a bead of sweat rolling down his neck.

I cocked an eyebrow.

I went in front of him. I knew he had already sensed me – Kanda is just creepy like that – but he didn't open his eyes or his mouth.

It looked like he was concentrating.

I frowned "Kanda, are you okay?" I asked.

He opened his eyes and looked at me, still frowning.

"Whatever" He said sharply and turned his face away from me, facing another direction.

I crossed my arms, put my weight in one leg and tapped my feet in the ground waiting.

I knew him all too well. I needed to wait a few moments until he answered truthfully.

When you know people for some years you can tell these things.

Silence.

I was still waiting.

Kanda suddenly moved, like he was uncomfortable on the bench and grumbled silently. "It's hot".

I blinked. I blinked twice.

And then I burst out laughing. Man, this guy is unbelievable!

Kanda faced me, glaring in full force.

I knew this could only mean my death so I tried to stop laughing. I gave some deep breaths to calm down but some chuckles still left my mouth.

"_That's_ why you are so worked up for?" I asked in an amused tone of voice, already knowing the answer.

He grabbed the hilt of Mugen as a warning.

Why isn't he pointing it at me already, you ask?

Because we are in a public place and Kanda knows better than you make useless mess like that.

But I took the warning seriously and stopped laughing although I couldn't really stop myself from smiling at him.

"You're not used to this temperature" I stated – the obvious, I know.

He merely gave me an annoyed look.

"But…I think this temperature is just fine" I added in a slightly teasing tone.

"I know _that_ baka" Kanda replied irritated.

"Hey! Don't you _baka_ – me" I complained dropping my previous smile and frowning at him. "That's not nice"

"Che, whatever"

I threw him a bored look for his lack of originality but didn't say anything.

I noticed then Kanda eyeing my arms. Since I had my sleeves rolled up, the white bandages on my wrists could be seen.

"You're hurt" He stated without emotion still inspecting my wrists with piercing eyes.

I looked at my wrists and flexed my hands to know if they still hurt. The pain was almost gone.

"They're almost healed"

Silence.

"What did you do?" Kanda asked with an annoyed tone looking at me fiercely and accusingly

Even though he was still sitting there, that simple question with that look was scaaaary.

And why was implying that the reason I got my wrists injured was my own fault?

Damn guy.

Well, the real problem was, he was implying that correctly. Sort of.

It was partially my fault that my wrists are like this.

Stupid Kanda.

Why does he have to figure out these things so easily?

So I smiled sheepishly at him.

"Well…" I started "There were a whole bunch of Akuma where me and Lavi went and…I was still tired and sleepy…" So many pauses. I sighed. "My movements were sloppy, so when they got too close I kind of panicked a bit and put more strength in my wrists holding my innocence than what was necessary…and wise." I paused again. "You get the picture"

Kanda looked at me for a moment longer and then faced another direction looking away from me.

Again.

Oh, well maybe I'm not pretty enough for him to bear to look at me more than some minutes…uh, whatever.

Like I care.

Hmm, well I do care…but I refuse to let it bother me right now. No patience to be moody in this exact instant.

That sounded dangerously like sleepy-humor…but I'm not sleepy…oh dear, maybe it's already affecting my brain. _No way!_

Troublesome.

So since Kanda wasn't saying anything – oh how I love to be ignored after such a long speech of explanations that _someone_ wanted…_jerk_ – I sat beside him on the bench fixing my sleeves back like they usually are.

"So, how did Allen managed his first mission as an exorcist?" I asked some moments after, out of curiosity, when I remembered that little detail.

Kanda had closed his eyes again but after my question he snapped his eyes open and looked straight ahead glaring viciously at nothing.

Oh, this can't be good.

"He's a naive stupid brat" Kanda hissed fuming.

"Hm, how so?" I asked interested.

"The _moyashi_ let's his emotions take control over his brain and wants to save the whole world by himself. The idiot thinks he's a damn hero" Kanda grumbled furiously still glaring at nothing.

"Oh…" I stopped for a moment, thinking. "So basically it looks to me that he sounds like a reckless guy with a big heart that doesn't deny his feelings, isn't afraid of showing it, has opinions and they clash with yours but he isn't afraid of standing up to you and that list of things pisses you off to no end…I'm right, aren't I?" I asked with a smile even though Kanda was now glaring at me.

"Che" Kanda looked away from me and closed his eyes again.

_Maybe __you see something in him, Kanda?_

"Well, was your mission completed?" I didn't need to know much more. Just that was fine.

"Yes." After a moment. "Yours?" He asked.

"Yep." I replied sitting more comfortably in the bench, looking at the sky.

I always enjoyed looking at the sky, maybe it was weird but I don't truly care. I like it, it calms me and it's relaxing.

And now was one of those little moments when I was so in peace with the world that I wanted to stay like this forever.

The weather was sunny and warm, the sky was clean and I could spot some birds singing and flying around through that wonderful blue up there. Everything around was fairly calm and the sounds were kind of soothing.

Ah, normality.

I felt normal, like a normal teenager that goes around for a walk on a warm end of morning. And it is a blessing for me to be able to have a glimpse of this feeling. And, of course, Kanda was right next to me.

What could I ask more than this right now?

I let a content sigh and closed my eyes with a little smile on my lips.

I felt Kanda turning to me but he went to his original position the next moment and didn't say anything.

Everything was peaceful for some moments but then I remembered – just now?? – something.

"Hey Kanda?" I asked without moving.

"Hn"

"What are we doing here?"

"Waiting for the train"

"And then what? Are you going to tell me about the mission?"

Kanda didn't reply for some moments.

"Not in the mood" He grumbled quietly.

"Well…will you be in the mood on the train?" I asked pointedly moving my head a little so I could look at him.

"Yes" He hissed. "So shut up"

"Maaan, don't be so grumpy! If you're that hot just open the damn coat!" I waited a little. "Or are you so _not-in-the-mood_ that you can't do it?" I asked in a somewhat bored tone.

"Shut up"

I sat straight turning a little on the bench so I was fully turned to him.

"Are you stuck on those words or what?" I asked with my eyebrows raised.

Since he was ignoring me I decided to take the matter on my own hands.

I moved closer to him on the bench. He still had his eyes closed and arms crossed upon his chest.

I put my hands on his arms and tried to untangle them from each other.

He didn't move but snapped his eyes open and looked at me with a slight glare.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to open your coat so that you won't be grumpy over the hot temperature and be mean to me" I declared firmly glaring a little at him.

He rolled his eyes at me (wow, I don't see that often) and let me uncross his arms.

"Whaaa? Don't roll your eyes at me!" I said with a little pout and added under my breath "Jerk".

Kanda instantly glared at me.

Oops, I guess he heard.

I smiled at him like nothing had happened and worked my way with the buttons of his coat.

Kanda was still glaring but with less resolve.

While I was getting my little work done I talked with him a little.

"We're not on a mission right now at this very second so forget about the stupid rules for a minute. I know you like to follow things by the book, flawlessly, and it's correct and I like to do it too, but a little too much and it becomes paranoia and right now you can relax." I said in a somewhat scolding yet gentle way.

Kanda was looking at nothing in particular in silence. His face betrayed nothing.

I continued "And not to mention that if you are feeling too warm, dressed like this and sweating, it will do no good to your health and it would be a pain in the ass to have you sick right now. So listen to me and lighten up will you?" I finished with a smile.

Kanda's eyes flickered to mine but he remained silent.

Well, it's not like I expected him to answer anyway.

I finished the buttons and opened Kanda's coat. The white shirt that Kanda had underneath the coat was buttoned up to the neck, so I eased the two first buttons as well.

"There, all done" I smiled.

Kanda looked down at himself to inspect my work. He was definitely fresher this way.

"Hn" Kanda faced the other way inspecting something on the train station's wall (which I could see that it was a clock, after moving a little.), got up and said tensely "Let's go" walking to the building without sparring a glance at me.

…

Uh…come again?

What did exactly happened here that I didn't get?

Was it something I did? I just undressed him a little…hmm _undressed_, that sounded rather nice…I undressed Kanda…but _NO_! FOCUS! What was the problem here?

I got up and followed Kanda inside the train station.

Was he angry? If it was nothing then he would have at least glared me in a very furious way… And he would probably try to kill me but he didn't even threaten me in any way…weird.

Wait a minute…was he embarrassed?

…

That's it! I got Kanda embarrassed…way to go Sae!

I don't know what's better, to get him angry or embarrassed…Oh well, he'll get over it soon, I'm sure.

Kanda is just like that.

And I'm not complaining.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

I hope you enjoyed this and, as usual, please let me know what you think! :D

_Adios_ – Bye (in Spanish)

I had to make up where some of the characters were from, because I didn't find any info on them about that.

More info on Sae in this chapter.

She is from Portugal because I want her to be rather _real_. **People from different countries have different mentalities and behaviors** and what could it be more real than for her to have a mentality that I'm related with? I like believable characters and I hope Sae becomes one =)

Other reason is that most of the OCs in D. Gray-Man (and other) fan fictions are mostly from Japan, UK, USA, France, China and so on…so why not a change? ;)

One of the things that I love about **D. Gray-Man** is all the interaction between people from different countries, different ways of seeing things, different raisings and the _job_ that brings them all together. Even if Katsura Hoshino doesn't explore that as much as I would like, I love D. Gray-Man all the same! =D

About Sae's name…if you find it strange then keep that in mind.

Review!

I'm sorry for this, but don't expect any updates anytime soon =S

Too much work and no time to breathe.

Over and Out,

_lado-lunar_


	3. The Yesterdays of Life I

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own D. Gray-Man. Just my OCs.

I apologize in advance for any mistakes and any English spelling errors, as usual. Most of them are just lack of attention =P

**I'm very sorry for the lack of updates for so many weeks, but it was truly impossible for me to work on this. I've been having tons of work that never seem to end from university and even the time to rest ****is very little. I'm counting with much more free time somewhere around the start/middle of July, so expect something from me around that time. **

This chapter has little dialogue but it's necessary. Bear it with me.

_To __avoid being such a boring loooooong chapter I decided to cut it in a half and make two chapters._

_**EDIT –**_**I've changed the part about CD's because it was a little weird and replaced it by things that fit the DGM era better. Not telling – go read it! For this I have to give a huge 'Thank You' to **_**Lathya**_** that pointed out the weirdness on the CD's thing and helped me finding out a more appropriate way to settle the question! Thank you very much =)**

Please don't kill me!

And enjoy!

____________________________________________________________________________

**3rd**** Chapter**

**The Yesterdays of Life**** I  
**

So here I am again. On a train…wow? Not really.

I wonder if it would be a good idea to bug Komui about all the life that I'm losing on trains – all because of him!

Well…maybe it's not such a great idea, he would probably throw a fit and start tearing up and complaining about how I am such a mean older-little sister to him.

Older-little sister…yeah.

That's what he calls me sometimes, because I'm older than his little sister but, supposedly, I'm his little sister too.

Please note my huuuuge sweatdrop at this.

Of course I'm not related to Komui or Lenalee by blood.

A couple of years ago, Lenalee mentioned that I was like an older sister to her, probably because we're almost the only girls in HQ and we always tend to stick together, sometimes always being surrounded by guys is a little too much. So Komui was so touched by Lenalee's statement that he 'adopted me' into his family.

You see…I don't really mind this – except when Komui starts bothering me way too much than the necessary – but I have this secret suspicion that Lenalee said this in order to don't suffer Komui's sister complex all alone anymore…even if she always looks so pure and innocent there's something that people can't ignore – _they are brother and sister_, meaning Lenalee has the same genes as Komui so…Lenalee is probably more Komui-like than what we know and gave her credit for. Beware!

Hahaha, these are my theories…never mind.

Back to reality – or something like that – Kanda and I got into the train and we're now in a cabin just like the other before.

After I bought two sandwiches, a soda and a water for our lunch (soda for me and water for Kanda – the healthy one), Kanda got over his, supposedly, embarrassed and grumpy mood and eventually told me the mission.

We need to go to Spain and meet with Daisya and Marie (which is great because I haven't seen those guys for a while) and – I've no idea how – find General Tiedoll.

Kanda told me about the death of General Kevin Yeegar and everything that was happening too – the Noah family, General Cross and the other search party that was looking for him, the increasing numbers of Akuma everywhere, the attacks on finders and exorcists…

So many terrible things that I had to mentally shake off that little feeling of dread that threatened to grip me while hearing the information that Komui had provided to Kanda.

I had a very bad feeling.

_____

"_Something is moving, isn't it?" I asked Kanda at the time, with my eyebrows furrowed._

_Kanda had looked at me with those piercing eyes that seemed to look through me. I didn't look away, I didn't care if he was sensing my fear._

"_Yeah" He had replied. Something flickered in his eyes but it was gone in an instant. He looked through the window to the fast moving world out here. "Most probably"._

_______

Not good. Not good at all.

Now I have this feeling that something weird and big is going on. But, at the same time, I have to ignore this or I'll just get paranoid.

So now, while Kanda is reading an English newspaper that I managed to get for him (he even managed to mumble a 'thanks'…wow), I am inspecting an Italian fashion magazine for teenagers, lying down in my 'sofa', opposite to Kanda's.

I can read a little bit of what's written in the magazine since Italian has a lot of similarities with my fist language – Portuguese. I wasn't really interested in it though, it's not like I, being an exorcist, have the time to think about such frivolous things as what or what not to wear. What I was really interested in was the feeling of normality I was getting just from looking at the pages of the magazine.

The normality issue again.

Reading what normal teenagers read was like having some stolen minutes of an average teenager's life.

It was like listening music too. And it was the major reason why I love music.

Music is a normal thing. Everyone hears it. Everyone loves it. It is one of the things that are strongly linked to the normal life people lead all over the world that I _can't_ and _won't_ ever turn my back to.

I love music and I love to be updated about it, and I do that with occasional the help of Tapp and Johnny, and sometimes even Reever or one of the other geeks of the Science Department. But, truth to be told I call them geeks with affection, well, most of them anyways, one can't like everyone.

Sometime ago they gave me a radio! And when I finish a mission if they know that some kind of street performance is going on where I am, they let me know so I can go and take a little peek at it. I've no idea how they know these things but I'm grateful for it.

"_Connections, connections_" is what they teasingly answer me when I ask.

Thinking back, everything was normal some years ago. I didn't even dream of a future like this. I knew very little of this world of exorcists, Akuma and the Millennium Earl.

I was a regular teenager and then one day, my life turned upside down and everything I knew and was familiar with was taken away from me.

_Innocence__._

Ironic how can this word mean something that will most definitely lead your life to a road where innocence and ignorance have no room to spread.

I was 14 when it happened.

I lived in the suburbs of a big city but the environment and my life was fairly peaceful.

It was only necessary a few hours for my life to change its course completely. But now when I look back I know that the new, foreign and dangerous road that I was about to take back then, had been setting itself before me for some time. In fact, to be more precise, it had been setting itself in the palm of my hand.

_The multiplicity of meanings of this is quite absurd._

On that day the only thing worth mentioning to my parents at home had been the weird looking man with the odd clothes that had gold looking pieces on it. He had glasses and graying hair and mustache and had been in front of an old and abandoned house at the end of the street where I lived, drawing it.

My neighborhood was, most of the time, very calm and somewhat boring, so when a strange person that no one knew appeared from nowhere and sat on the pavement drawing an old house that no one bothered to look twice, everyone's eyes gravitated to the new figure.

It had been when I was returning home from school, before lunch, that I walked by the strange, a little old, man, drawing and when curiosity kicked in and I had taken a peek at his drawing I had been amazed by his skill. When he noticed me starring, eyes wide, taking in the drawing we had talked for a bit.

I had to talk in English since he didn't know my language. Lucky that even if English was still something that I was learning (at school) I was fairly good at it and managed pretty well.

He had asked me where he was, in the country. Of course that I thought it was weird, was he lost or something? I had explained him that we were at the central coast of Portugal. He thanked me and didn't ask me anything more.

When I had told my parents of this, over lunch, they thought nothing of it. Neither did me.

On that same afternoon, after doing my homework, I had gone to my closet, in my bedroom, and after some seconds of searching I finally found what I had been searching for.

My secret.

And the object I had secretly hidden in my closed was a black stick with a white cross on it.

Sounds familiar?

I had found it on my home's attic some day when I had been bored and went looking for something interesting through all the old stuff up there.

It had been full of powder to the point where the white cross looked anything but white when I had first seen it.

It had caught my eye since, although all the powder, it didn't look old enough to be in between all the things that were in the old boxes. It looked more modern, I guess.

At that time, some months before the faithful day, I had cleaned it and looked at it fascinated by how weird and foreign it looked.

It had been at the exact moment after that, when I had gripped the black stick, without paying mind, on my right hand with the white cross directly under my palm that my future road began setting itself before me.

I had felt an incredibly sharp burning pain in the palm of my hand that was over the white cross. I screamed in shock and shuddered violently. It felt like something sharp as a knife was stabbing my flesh.

A second after, whatever had punctured my palm so aggressively disappeared and I had let go of the black stick.

Blood was pouring from the hole on my palm and blood smudged the white cross on the black stick that now lied on the ground.

I had stared in complete shock to my palm feeling the horrible throbbing pain while the blood ran down through my wrist dirtying my clothes and some drops falling to the ground.

Before I even had had a reaction, besides starring stupidly with wide eyes to my bloody hand, the ugly hole in it closed as if it were magic. Where the hole had been, scarred skin appeared and the pain completely stopped.

That had been the weirdest and scariest thing that had ever happened to me and after that I had handled the weird stick very carefully but, for some reason, I never told anyone about what had happened.

After some time, I eventually forgot a little about my fear of it. Sometimes I imagined that the stick had magic powers and that someday it would transform in something super cool and would fight with it against dark evil forces.

It was my childish imagination running wild.

But I couldn't be more close to the truth.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

**I'll repeat - **_To avoid being such a boring loooooong chapter I decided to cut it in a half and make two chapters._

I know what you're thinking – "_A little less conversation and a little more action please_".

But even if you sing it to me I'll just say "All in due time" ;)

**Expect more around the start/middle of July. I'm sorry for this! But it's impossible for me to work on this story until then.**

And NO, I am absolutely _not_ dropping this story =)

And thank you thank you thank you thank you for the reviews, hits, favs and alerts, I am very happy! =D

Review and let me know what you think so far!

_lado-lunar_


	4. The Yesterdays Of Life II

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own D. Gray-Man. Just my OCs.

I apologize in advance for any mistakes and any English spelling errors, as usual. Most of them are just lack of attention =P

**I'm very sorry for the long time without any updates. It was necessary. **

This chapter is sort of a flashback.

Enjoy!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**4th Chapter**

**The Yesterdays of Life II  
**

After taking the black stick that had a white cross on it from my closet, I had ran a finger over the perfect glossy black material that encircled the stick-looking object.

I thought it was beautiful.

My finger went up the white cross feeling the different material and its salience and then went to the other end of the stick.

At that instant I heard a terrifying loud sound like something exploding somewhere near and I felt my house shaking violently.

It had stopped fast but it had scared the hell out of me.

__

_I ran downstairs and rushed __through the open front door of my house._

_I looked around to see where the disturbance had happened. My eyes swept the end of the street._

_The old abandoned house._

_Oh. My. God. _

_Dust was still settling around it and smoke rose in the air._

_The problem wasn't there._

_I walked fast, passing by my mother and father that had been shocked to stillness on the middle of the street, and gradually slowed down my pace when I grew closer to the most strange view I have ever laid my eyes on._

_It looked like a huge articulated doll. __Its proportions were absurdly big and it was pure white with black inscriptions on its arms and legs. It seemed Spanish but I couldn't tell exactly what it said._

_And to add to my absolute surprise, beside that _thing _was, completely calm, the strange man that had been drawing this same house a couple of hours before._

_I gawked at the sight._

_He noticed me there and sent me a kind smile. "Oh! Hello again young friend"_

_I remained gawking._

_He threw me a concerned look "Are you okay?"_

_I snapped out of my gawking and swallowed. "Wh-what is…this?" I asked him. My voice was shivering and my eyes were wide taking in the huge doll's appearance again._

"_Oh, this?" He asked motioning to the strange creature beside him and walking towards me. "It's my Innocence. I'm an Exorcist" He smiled._

_I stared at him uncomprehending. "Huh?"_

"_It's my weapon to destroy Akuma and free the souls trapped within."_

_Seeing my (still) blank expression the man smiled understandingly. "But you probably don't know that I'm talking about my dear. It's…"_

_He stopped suddenly._

_He was looking at my right hand._

_I was still holding the black stick and my hand was wrapped on one of its edged so the man could see, clear as day, the white cross._

_He looked back at me, a slight frown on his features "Oh dear…is that yours?"_

_I frowned "Eh…y-yes"_

_His eyes were sad. "…just a child again…?" I heard him whisper quietly. "I fear I must have a serious conversation with you" He finally said._

"_W-what? Why?" I asked nervously._

"_That object in your hand…it is Innocence. You must be its rightful owner...and if you truly are...then you are an exorcist." He said slowly so I could understand him clearly._

"…_WHAT?" I shrieked. My heart was thumping loudly in my chest and I stepped backwards._

_Innoce__nce. Rightful owner. Ex__orcist. What. What? __What?_

_The man opened his mouth to speak but closed it when the __enormous creature moved one of its arms. Towards me._

_I froze. I stood immobile with my eyes widened looking how the gigantic hand of that creature came in my direction and touched lightly the black stick that I was gripping tightly._

_Silence._

_And then I felt my right hand warm. Pleasantly warm._

_I tore my eyes from the mysterious creature and its retreating arm and looked at my hand._

_The stick had a white, almost transparent, flame-like shine around it._

"_Eh?" I shrieked again._

_The next second through one of the edges of the black stick (the one that was pointing up), a shining thin silver blade grew out. Like a sword._

_My eyes followed the edge of the growing blade._

_Something was very wrong. And I didn't even mean the entire surreal scenario I was in._

_The blade wouldn't stop growing._

____

That was the first time ever I activated, unknowingly and with a _little help_, my Innocence.

After that, the creature had caught my blade with its hands and it grew back until it completely disappeared through the black stick again.

Afterwards the man had, as far as I can remember, which isn't everything, explained the people that had went to the street and were looking at the destruction and at the huge doll what had happened. He had said that he was an exorcist and that he had destroyed an Akuma that had been inside the abandoned house. Some people that were there understood what he had told them and some others hadn't.

I don't remember much of what happened. The next thing I remember was the man sitting on my living room explaining everything to my terrified parents and to my dazed self.

He was called Froi Tiedoll and was a General Exorcist that worked under the Black Order, a mysterious organization with people from everywhere and with Branches located around the world.

He explained my situation as well, saying that I was to be an exorcist and that regrettably I had no other option since it was something far bigger than me.

I remember looking at my beloved mother and seeing how unfeeling her gaze had turned towards me. I had felt cold, fearing the worst.

And the worst happened.

My own mother got up from the sofa and with crazed eyes yelled at me, with an aggressiveness that I had never thought I would see, to get out of the house and never come back. That if I was a freak with weird powers I was no longer their daughter, that I was no longer human and entitled to be treated as such. I was a thing now, a thing that she despised and didn't want breathing the same oxygen as her. My father hadn't said anything but was regarding me with a stony gaze.

I was nothing then.

It felt like I had been frozen. My heart was beating erratically but it felt like it was only fighting to survive inside my unmoving and dead self.

It broke my heart.

My life had been destroyed before me without me being able to do anything to prevent it or to fight it.

It was the worst day of my life.

Everything happened so suddenly, so fast, so cruelly.

I was so young… My own parents treating me like I suddenly had became a monster and completely shutting me off of their world…

It had been a painful blow and even now I can't truthfully say that I've overcome that incident entirely.

I haven't, I'll never will.

It's in the blood that runs through my veins, in my bones, my skin, my soul, my eyes.

In me.

_It's me__._

Even if it made me stronger there's always a little part of me that will still wishes that things hadn't happen like that.

Everything that hurts makes you stronger but that doesn't mean I want to feel pain in my life just to become stronger and stronger through time.

I certainly don't want that.

I never saw or contacted my parents after that. I went with General Tiedoll to HQs to become a complete, powerful exorcist.

In the first months after discovering that I was an exorcist I was introduced to my new life and to new people but I was a depressed and nervous wreck for a long time.

How did I snap from my old depressed self you might ask?

Oh, that was simple. One fateful day, I just trained with an insufferable kid that pushed my every button and pissed me off to the extreme.

Yuu Kanda.

I completely hated his guts and that time he managed to infuriate me completely while I was fighting (training with) him.

He had been cruel with his words and he had been aggressive in the way he spoke them but it was the truth.

He said the simple truth that I needed to hear.

He was the one that made me find my own resolve.

At the time I didn't took well his sharp truth and after my furious rampage against him I broke down and cried.

I cried harder and longer that I have ever had.

General Tiedoll that had been watching the training and Kanda left me alone.

After what it looked like hours of crying I decided to stop it.

To stop feeling sorry for myself, to stop thinking about what could have been _If…_

I decided to live, to fight, to save, to allow myself to feel happy and to embrace my new life completely.

It was the second turning point of my life.

It was hard to push myself up, to grab my painful experience and turn it into strength.

It took a lot of time, it took depressing thoughts, it took what they meant by 'blood, sweat and tears', it took maturity, responsibility, raw truths and some wise kind words.

But I succeeded and right now I'm here, smiling to myself for my efforts and for what I was able to conquer, sprawled in the comfy sofa on a train with Kanda.

Kanda that after the incident started to call me by my name and not just by '_You_'.

Kanda that I've come to respect, understand and sympathize, as difficult as it may seem.

Kanda that has, well…one way or another, conquered a big space in my heart.

Kanda that now I would never be able to let go of.

And Kanda that I want selfishly to be by my side.

Most of the time at least.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Is it Sae's confession? Yes and No. MUAHAHA I'm evil!

It's not a long chapter but it's an important one nonetheless.

And that's how Sae became an exorcist. The mysteries of her Innocence are not over however. Later!

**Well, I'm still not completely free (from work) but I managed to write this so BE HAPPY! Lol =D**

Please Review! Reviews make my day! =D

_lado-lunar_


	5. Warm Ups

**Disclaimer:** I don't own D. Gray-Man. Just my OCs.

I apologize in advance for any mistakes and any English spelling errors, as usual.

I had a bit of time! =D But it's not the best chapter I've written, I'm sorry for that.

Enjoy.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________-

**5th Chapter**

**Warm-Ups  
**

" So…now where are we supposed to find them_ exactly_?" I spoke up my doubt when we got off the train at the little cozy and peaceful village at the northwest Spain.

"At the _Lá Esq...quina _Hotel" Kanda said in an annoyed tone struggling with the foreign words.

I had no doubt that he was annoyed at them. The words I mean.

Knowing him I'm sure that he thinks that everything that isn't English or Japanese is annoying. And I have this suspicion that Kanda just doesn't cut the words to little pieces with Mugen because it's _impossible_.

Huhh…I'm rambling a little, but it would be a cool thing to see – Kanda slashing foreign words into tiny little pieces!

I chuckled inwardly.

Is the sleepy-humor taking over my brain again even when I'm not sleepy?

Creepy.

"_La Esquina_ Hotel" I said in an almost perfect accent.

I have a certain skill with languages and their accents. I can imitate any accent if I have heard enough of the language, even if I don't really have any big knowledge of said language.

Not a really useful skill by the way.

Kanda threw me a glare. I smiled sheepishly at him.

While we were walking through the streets we asked several people that we found on our way, directions for the Hotel.

Well, _I_ asked. Kanda just stayed by my side looking around and occasionally glaring at people.

I didn't have any type of problem with the silence that existed between us while we were walking. And to speak the truth I'm not much of a fan of filling out empty silences.

Silence wasn't a problem for me and if it meant less frowns, glares and snapping from Kanda, I minded even less.

_You value moments of peace don't you, Kanda?_

I was simply content with walking along side Kanda's tall figure.

I would be really stupid not to be perfectly happy with such handsome Japanese guy at my side. (cough…cough)

___

Some minutes later we finally found the hotel. It was a simple old little building. The village itself wasn't very big so it was accordingly.

"There it is!" I exclaimed "C'mon!" I said to Kanda, walking a little bit faster.

"Che, why so happy?" He asked in his usual annoyed tone of voice, walking behind me.

"I haven't seen Marie and Daisya in ages!" I replied looking at him over my shoulder.

"So...?"

I sighed in an exasperated way. "Oh, be grumpy all you want" And went ahead of him in the direction of the cozy-looking hotel.

If I had looked back at that moment I would have seen the frown that had appeared on Kanda's features.

I entered the hotel and went to the lady on the lobby and after asking if she spoke English – which she did – and said that I wanted to talk with two people that had a room there with the names of Noise Marie and Daisya Barry.

"Yes, I just need to check their room number and I will call them. Wait a few moments please." She said.

"Okay, thank you" I replied with a little smile.

I noticed Kanda standing beside me.

"The lady is calling them" I said even if he didn't ask me anything.

He didn't even look at me and went to lean on one of the walls of the lobby.

I raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

Maybe he didn't like my words moments ago. True that I wasn't being very nice but still…

I sighed.

Sometimes I think that Kanda is still a child in some things.

But never mind that right now.

"They are coming down right now, miss" The lady said to me.

"Thank you" I said and walked to where Kanda was waiting for them. "They're coming"

"Hn" Was the reply from Kanda.

After a couple of minutes in which I entertained myself staring at the other people moving around in the hotel lobby I spotted a hooded head that I knew well, coming from the hotel stairs.

A big smile broke through my face. "Daisya!" I called getting his attention.

He spotted me and Kanda right away and came in our direction smiling too.

I went to him and gave him a big hug. "Daisya! How are you?" I asked cheerfully after letting him go.

He didn't look surprised, he was already used to my surprise hugs (which weren't a surprise anymore, of course). He smiled at me with his trademark boyish smile and patted my head. "I'm great. How about you?"

I grabbed his hand that was patting my head. "Oh I'm fine as long as you don't do that" I glared playfully.

Daisya is a wonderful friend. Permanently in a good mood, he likes to have fun teasing. He's, sometimes, absolutely random and rather enjoys making up weird stories, most of them, with us, four, as protagonists. Of course there are times when that doesn't end very well, especially when Kanda's involved. I'm not too sure if they get along very well...Daisya can be a bit tactless with his teasing.

But I really enjoy his company.

"Right, right" He laughed, taking back his hand.

"Kanda" Daisya greeted with a nod.

"Daisya." Kanda nodded back.

Ah, boy-greeting is so boring.

"Where's Marie?" I asked Daisya.

"He's coming down with the bags" He replied casually.

I made a shocked face "And you're not helping?"

"Well...I had to come down to meet you two" He replied sheepishly.

I gave him a pointed look.

"Hey, it was Marie that said to come down." Daisya said putting his hands up in defense.

Before I could scold him any longer, Marie appeared at the bottom of the stairs carrying four bags.

"Daisya..." I said looking at him pointedly again.

"Right, right, coming" He said grinning at me for the look I was giving him, and went to help Marie carrying the bags.

When they approached us, Marie was just carrying two bags. I smiled in victory at Daisya while they were putting the bags on the ground. He rolled his eyes at me but he was smiling.

I directed my attention to Marie stepping forward to give him one of my hugs "Marie!"

"Hello Sae, Kanda, how are you?" He asked looking at Kanda first and then smiling at me and patting my head while I withdrew my arms from his waist.

I looked up at him smiling too.

"Fine" That was the answer I was going to give but a deeper voice said it sharply.

I looked back at Kanda to see he was giving a glare at Marie. I looked back at Marie to see that he had a somewhat teasing smile on his lips.

I raised an eyebrow. What was this all about?

I chose to ignore the weird moment between them. "Yeah, well that's my answer too" I said smiling at Marie "How about you?"

"I'm fine, thank you. I trust the travel went with no problems?" Marie asked politely as always.

"Yeah. Very long though" I said "But that was expected of course"

He nodded.

Marie is cool. Behind those eyes that don't see, and what some could say was a frightening looking person, was in fact a kind-hearted man. A softy really. Ever polite, calm and quiet, he is quite the analyzer of things and usually sees through everyone.

I respect him very much as a person and I cherish him as a friend. I like to have him around.

My eyes went to the bags on the ground.

" So, Marie, which one is my bag?" I asked him.

"Yours is this one and Kanda's is that one. These are Daisya's and mine" Marie replied in his usual deep voice, pointing at each bag with his finger.

"Okay, thanks" I said grabbing my bag, crouching down and opening it.

"Hey, me and Marie are just going there to the lady to pay for the room, we'll be right back" Daisya said.

Kanda and I nodded.

I went back to inspecting what was in my bag. Everything was in order. All the basic needs and perfectly tidy.

I looked up to Kanda that had been looking through the stuff on his bag too. "All in order?"

"Yeah" He answered closing his bag.

"Good" I said closing my bag too.

After a minute or so, Daisya and Marie came back and got their bags.

"Well, everyone ready?" Daisya asked grinning.

Seeing our nods Daisya stepped forward towards the hotel exit.

"Off we go then".

____________________________________________________

It was out third night of travel. We encountered a few Akumas causing damages in the village we were passing through.

Stray Akumas.

No innocence was around. Except for ours that is.

But it was still very weird.

As if those Akumas were just messing around with no real point.

And Akumas don't do that. _Ever_. They always have ulterior motives.

Since they weren't too many, Marie and Kanda were taking care of them while me and Daisya stood aside.

Truth is, they were small fries. Some level 2 and even some level 1.

I took advantage of the situation and watched Marie and Kanda fighting. It's always quite a show.

The grace and strength of Kanda and Mugen and the improbability of Marie and his strings.

Daisya's voice broke through my thoughts " Mesmerized by those two?" He asked with a small grin.

I chuckled "Yeah. Impossible not to be"

A few moments of silence in which we watched Kanda slicing an Akuma in a half and giving it a kick.

Oh, he was pissed off.

Kanda doesn't usually waste movements. He's all straight to the point.

_At least in most of things..._

Marie took care of the last Akuma and they finally approached us.

We were sitting on a bench in the darkest part of that apparently abandoned street. I stood closer to Daisya to make room for them.

Marie sat with a deep sigh and Kanda sat next to me, frowning and cleaning a bead of sweat from his temple with the back of his hand.

Breaking the silence Daisya commented " It's strange for them to appear like this, right? Just a few, low level Akumas with no real intent..." He trailed off looking at nothing in particular.

"I think so too" I said softly.

At this Marie commented quietly "If they know about the current situation they might be trying to end the lives of as many exorcists as they can".

"Hmm, to them it's probably more fun than to hunt down innocence anyway" Daisya said sarcastically.

I chuckled dryly before saying " But it makes no sense that they were so few and with those levels"

After a moment Kanda replied stoically "These were probably just a search party to find info on eventual exorcists locations"

Hmm...

Daisya spoke up " Then, they must have warned other Akumas that there were exorcists on this area, right? That is If they managed to contact others. I'm not sure how those things work between them"

I frowned. It was true.

"Yes" The deep voice of Marie was heard. " We will probably have increasing visits from Akumas from now on"

Well, shit.

And here I was thinking we would have a fine nice trip searching for our General.

Way to shatter someone's hopes and dreams.

Silence installed between us. Everyone immersed in their own thoughts.

I sighed.

How much more complicated will this get?

_______________________________________________________

The next day I woke up feeling my bed shaking. I only registered that fact in my mind some time after I felt myself waking up.

I opened my eyes slightly and saw movement on my left side. The bed was still shaking.

When I completely opened my eyes and looked at the movement I knew why my bed was trembling.

_Kanda was kicking it._

Now, that's not a nice way to wake up people.

Even if my mind was still sleepy I was instantaneously in a bad mood.

"HEY!" I shouted angrily, mentally cringing at my sleep laced voice. " _Pára com isso_!"

Well, Kanda stopped.

But he was looking at me with one eyebrow raised.

What? What was his problem now?

Suddenly I felt a little too self conscious. I must look like hell, having just woken up and all.

I grabbed my bed sheet and raised it above my head hiding my face from the world while growling moodily " _Pára de olhar para mim! Que irritante_!"

I head laughs.

"Speak English sleepy head" I heard Daisya saying.

Aaah...damn it. That was the problem. I didn't even noticed.

I uncovered my head. "Kanda's fault!" I argued childishly.

Daisya laughed again. He was sitting on his bed packing his stuff.

Kanda was already leaving the room ignoring both of us.

Marie wasn't anywhere I could see.

"Where's Marie?" I asked Daisya while scrubbing my eyes.

"He's already down. He went to pay for the room and get some food for us" He replied.

"Hm. Hours?"

"2 p.m."

That wasn't too weird. We had our schedules all messed up since we were traveling mostly at night and didn't sleep too long. We couldn't afford to lose time and traveling at night was easier.

People usually weren't on the streets and Akumas liked to make their presence known at night too. As exorcists we have to make ourselves the target. Better us than a civilian since we have ways to fight Akumas back and destroy it.

I sat on the bed and after yawning I asked mildly annoyed "Why didn't you wake me up earlier? You guys are already up and I still have to dress and pack".

Daisya looked at me chuckling at my annoyed tone of voice " Now now, we had to let our princess sleep a little more, hadn't we?" He teased with his boyish smile.

"Yeah, right..." I murmured getting my uniform.

"In fact, I wanted to wake you when we woke up, but Kanda said to let you sleep a little more" Daisya said finishing packing his belongings.

Now, that was something new.

"He did? Why?" I asked him with a surprised face.

"Yeah. Well, sort of at least. He was grumbling about how much more annoying you would become If you knew you could have slept a little more" Daisya said, amused.

"Ah! What a lie!" I exclaimed in an outraged voice but still secretly happy to know what Kanda had done.

_I still wonder..._

Daisya grinned at me. "Well, get moving and get dressed". He scolded me in a light tone.

"Yeah, yeah" I replied while entering the bathroom.

"I'll be down there with Marie and Kanda eating. Hurry up and join us." I heard him say.

"Okay" I replied and heard him closing the bedroom door while saying "See ya!".

I sighed. I have been sighing a lot lately.

I guess the building tension I am starting to sense between our group is getting to me. These little encounters with stray Akumas were a bad omen and we were feeling that worst was coming.

Time to enjoy the light before darkness overcomes.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Translations (Portuguese to English): **(Note: These translations are not entirely literal. If they were, the meaning would be lost. )

"**Pára com isso!" **- "Stop with that!"

"**Pára de olhar para mim! Que irritante!" **- "Stop looking at me! So annoying!"

__

Enter Marie and Daisya!!

I don't know much about Daisya so I just made him act based on the very little information that was seen in the manga. I hope you don't find him too weird in my story. I sort of imagine him as sane Lavi...XD

And yeah, Marie was teasing Kanda..._in their own very subtle kind of way_. Because Kanda had been with Sae for some time...and stuff. I leave the rest for your imagination.

There are some things that happen in the story that I don't actually write since Sae doesn't really understands or sees. Very subtle things, I hope you can spot them =P

I hope you didn't find this chapter too boring...please tell me you didn't! XD It's not my best chapter but things are going to happen sooner or later ;)

I'll have some more weeks of hard work again so don't expect anything too soon. But stay tuned either way ;)

And review! C'mon, I want to know what you think so far! =D

**And I'm sorry for writing such long author notes at the end! My hands just keep writing! I'm soorrryyyyyy!** (I look like Miranda now XD)

_lado-lunar_


	6. Before Darkness Overcomes

**Disclaimer:** I don't own D. Gray-Man. Just my OCs.

I apologize in advance for any mistakes and any English spelling errors, as usual.

**Well, this took much more time than I expected...I'm very sorry for the long wait but a combination of vacations, laziness and being too HOT for the brain to function properly resulted in this. Hopefully my inspiration will allow me to update more often!**

Huge chapter by the way.

Oh and feel free to check out the image on my profile page!** I drew a little sketch of Sae**** =D**

**An important thing...**when I write ''_Marie was looking_'' or something like that... well he's blind so don't take it 'literally'. It just means his head is facing the place, or the someone he would be looking at if he saw, okay? ^^ Besides he has such an accurate hearing that it's almost like he sees things, which is veeeery cool! =D

Enjoy ^^

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**6th Chapter**

**Before Darkness Overcomes**

" _It's pointless! Pointless! You can't help the Generals! Noah's family and Akumas are going after them as a giant army! Even as you guys are beating me up at this very minute -_ "

I had just deactivated my Innocence after taking care of a few Akumas when I heard the hysteric voice of that Akuma just before Kanda silenced it.

Level 2 are too loud.

"Shut up" Kanda snapped at the dust that had been the talking metallic thing.

Good way to shut someone (or something) up.

"Sae, Kanda, let's go" I heard Marie saying from the top of the nearby stairs.

"Going" I said climbing the stairs to where Marie and Daisya were waiting with our bags.

I heard Kanda sighing behind me.

I guess he was tired of all the attacks were were being targeted with. We all were.

"How annoying. We're not making any progress at all. They just keep coming one after another..." Daisya said with an hint of irritation on his voice, after we collected our bags and started to walk again.

It was the 7th attack or so in almost a week. It was getting ridiculous.

"They're trying to stop us" Kanda said simply.

"It's hard enough just to catch up to the General" Marie sighed.

"Che" Kanda snapped at Marie's words.

I raised my eyebrows.

"What? Are you annoyed, Kanda?" Marie asked.

"I am not!" Kanda replied stubbornly.

"Right." I chuckled at his behavior.

"Well, who knows when we'll catch up to him. Looks like General Tiedoll isn't in this town anymore." Daisya commented. "Jeez, that guy's faster than a speeding bullet." He added as an after thought.

"No matter what you call him, he's probably painting something somewhere" Marie said.

I laughed "Probably. The General isn't too original with his hobbies, he's always painting" I said with a smile.

Daisya laughed. "We have a weird master, right Kanda?" He asked looking back at Kanda.

" I despise that old man." Kanda muttered angrily with his eyes narrowed.

We all stared at him.

Bad temper...

We all know how the relationship between those two is. General just loves to mess around with Kanda, and Kanda...well, let's just say he doesn't take it too well.

We returned to our normal pace, walking in the night through numerous houses made of gray old stones. As the rest of the nearby villages and towns, this one wasn't very big and was completely deserted by night, save from some Akumas.

"Well, at least he's better than General Cross" I said optimistically trying to soften eventual moody states of mind of any eventual companion of mine near by. If you know what I mean...

"True, true" Daisya chuckled.

"_Che_, that idiotic procrastinator..." Kanda grumbled annoyed.

Mission accomplished. Eventual moody states of mind of any eventual companion of mine near by, are now directed at another person other than our General. Sadly it seems that they cannot be softened...not any time soon at least.

"I haven't seen him for years" Marie commented quietly.

"I only saw him once...not too long after I joined the Order. From what I saw, he and General Tiedoll don't get along very well" I said, remembering the way General Tiedoll was talking to Cross after he had told me I should lose a little weight and let my hair grow longer when he saw me for the first time. General Tiedoll wasn't too happy about it. After all I was just a kid and well, back in the day I was a little chubby too. General Cross is a shameless womanizer.

"They have very different perspectives of life and how to live it." Marie said.

"I suppose that's true..." Daisya commented lightly.

"Can we search for our inn now? I'm hungry and tired." I asked them almost pleadingly, changing the subject.

"Where is it?" Kanda asked ,looking over to Daisya.

"Reever said it was around the town center, so we should be close. I've got the directions here" Daisya said, getting a piece of paper from his uniform pockets.

"Then we should go, I'm a little bit hungry myself" Marie stated.

Being an exorcist sometimes has its privileges. We usually give a phone call to HQs every day to tell them where we are and if they have any information for us about General Tiedoll whereabouts. We don't have a Finder with us and the wireless golems are just able to communicate between them when they are close, so we usually give HQs a call at some public space that has phones.

In turn they usually book a hotel or an inn for us and explain that we are exorcists, and since we usually travel at night there are no problems with checking in really late. They already know.

Lucky us, huh?

_______________________________________________________________

"My feet huuuuuurt!" I whimpered loudly the next day, looking at the evening sky with a pained expression but continuing to walk.

"Shut up" Kanda promptly said from my right side.

"Marieeee! Did you heard that?" I complained childishly with an outraged voice to the back of the man walking in front of me. "He's so cruel! Here I am, a lady in distress and he's like this! Replying with sharp words and cold tone! It's wrooong! He should be a gentleman! Swept me off my feet and carry me all the - "

"Don't get any stupid ideas" Kanda snapped glaring at me.

I huffed. "Jerk" I said, reverting to my usual tone of voice.

"Stupid _baka_" Kanda growled through his teeth.

"I heard that you - !" I started but was cut off by Daisya.

"Now, now, children. Play nice." He said teasingly, looking back at us, since he was beside Marie.

The next moment two kicks were aimed at him.

Luckily he managed to avoid them.

"Hey! Don't do that you guys! And Sae, I thought your feet hurt?" Daisya asked pointedly.

"Oh, they do. You should be happy I even raised my poor foot to kick you. I did that even though I was hurting. You see? This is what you mean to me." I replied in a haughty tone.

"I mean '_raising a foot when it hurts to attempt a kick_' to you?" Daisya asked with his eyebrows raised and an incredulous voice.

I laughed loudly. "Exactly!" I replied between chuckles.

"Jeez, thanks a lot" Daisya said rolling his eyes.

Marie was shaking his head with an amused smile on his lips.

"Are you two finished?" Kanda's annoyed tone asked beside me.

I looked at him. He had his eyes closed. Yes, even walking sometimes he closes his eyes. I think he does that when he's tired.

I moved my eyes around his face relishing the opportunity to watch him as attentively as I like.

He was changing. I remember him some years ago. His face was rounder, softer even though the frown rarely left his face.

He grew up of course. Boys change more than girls.

He was becoming a man. That intrigued me somewhat. Not that I was expecting him to turn out a girl or something...God, no! That would be beyond ridiculous.

I found it interesting. All these changes. They were somewhat alluring too, making new feelings surface.

He was taller, more manlier. The contours of his face were sharper, his jaw more pronounced, his nose more straight and his eyes were just as fierce or even fiercer. Always burning with something, even if most of the time, that something is an extreme and uncontrollable feeling of wanting to slice people (and Akumas) to little pieces.

Sometimes his eyes would get hard – I don't like when they do, sometimes something would flicker in them and sometimes, and just only some times, they would get softer for just a second.

Some people say Kanda is cold or has no feelings. It's not true. I just think he bottles it all up inside and doesn't show what he feels most of time.

On the other hand, he does get pissed off and annoyed easily and he does have some difficulty trying to control that. How can people say he has no feelings? I seriously suspect he has too many since he has a tendency to seem troubled.

Either way, to me, Kanda is …

"What?" He suddenly opened his eyes and looked at me sharply.

I was a little taken aback. Creepy much?

But I suddenly smiled at him softly and reached out my hand patting his cheek gently.

_Kanda._

And that, already familiar, bittersweet feeling that was always nudging on my conscience suddenly made itself known for me once again.

"Grumpy, be happy." I said softly. Sincerely.

He looked at me with a slight trace of surprise.

"Oi, stop with the lovey-dovey stuff back there, you're making me sick" I heard Daisya saying.

I locked the feeling once more.

And once again two kicks were aimed at him.

This time he was already predicting it and quickly jumped away, managing to avoid them twice.

"Shut up" Me and Kanda said at the same time. But while I said it in an annoyed tone, Kanda said it angrily.

Marie laughed quietly, clearly amused at our antics. So, yeah, he's like the adult of our group...Even if we are all, legally – and at least in most countries – adults, Marie is the sober one, the wise one...truth be told he's just the one that's normal. _All the time_.

Daisya has an average of 5 days a week of being normal.

I have an average of 3 days a week of being normal.

Kanda has an average of...uh, let's skip him, shall we?

Marie has the perfect 24/7.

It's not like Marie having 28 (or something like that, I'm not entirely sure) years old, Daisya having 20 and me and Kanda having 18 is of any importance.

Of course not...

Well, except the part that I'm like, 1 week older than Kanda.

**HA!** Take that!

I love to annoy him with that tiny and absolutely wonderful detail.

Anyway...being completely sane is a virtue only available to Marie. Good thing one of us is able to have such a wonderful thing.

I'm getting completely out of track right?

I gave a mental sigh.

"So, anyway, Kanda, why were you so irritated earlier?" Daisya asked looking back at Kanda.

Ah, he was indeed a little annoyed for no apparent reason, when me and Daisya were bickering.

"Shut up" Kanda glared at him.

Ah, the ever eloquent Kanda and his rather extensive knowledge of different words. He has a language of his own. A dictionary for his language would be the smallest dictionary in the whole the world.

My theories, please ignore me.

"Ah..." Daisya said in a taken aback tone. Another intellectual answer but I guess Kanda's replies have that effect on most people. He was definitely sweat-dropping.

"He was being himself, Daisya" I said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Tsk. Thanks a lot" Kanda said in a sour tone.

"You're welcome!" I replied happily ignoring the obvious sarcastic nature of his answer.

"Eh, Kanda, you made a '_tsk'_ sound?" Marie asked in a surprised tone moving his head back to us.

"So?" Kanda shot back with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing, you don't usually do that" Marie replied calmly moving his head to the front turning it back to the road we were walking on.

"Yeah, he more of a '_che_' type of guy" Daisya added smiling.

Kanda shot him a death glare.

Daisya turned his head quickly to the front.

"Lavi and I have a theory for that" I said lightly.

Kanda gritted his teeth and directed his death glare to me.

I ignored him.

"Let's hear it" Marie said pleasantly.

"Well...it's not the best of the theories we ever made but..we think '_che_' is an evolution of '_tsk_', Kanda's style, you know?" I said shrugging."He can't be like everyone else in the world after all, he has to have a personalized '_tsk_' of his own" I finished with a teasing edge in my voice, looking at Kanda through the corner of my eye.

Daisya laughed out loud.

Kanda was glaring at me through his narrowed eyes. I sensed some movement and my eyes were attracted by his hand...where he was gripping Mugen tightly.

I knew what could happen next so when Daisya looked back at me still smiling and about to say something I held up my hand in a '_wait a bit_' sign and with wide eyes mouthed '_No_' to him.

Luckily he understood. If we continued to tease Kanda, we would enter the _Danger Zone_.

And we sure as hell don't want that.

_____________________________________________________________________

"Should we do something about that guy?" Daisya asked one night after we had to care of more Akumas.

The last times we had encountered Akumas there had been a guy with them. A Noah. He's huge and has a dark skin tone but he never attacked us or anything. He just stayed there looking at us and then, eventually, he would leave.

Pretty weird.

"Since he doesn't do anything we should leave it at that" Marie said.

"I guess so" I said shrugging and looking at Daisya that was mirroring my action.

"If he even lifts a finger I'll cut him down" Kanda said suddenly in a deadly tone of voice gripping Mugen.

Already making plans for the kill, huh?

Fine by me.

____________________________________________________________________

"You know...I was thinking something interesting just now..." Daisya stated in a contemplative voice looking up at the stars above us.

Marie, Kanda and I sighed in unison. In different tones though.

Coming from Daisya, that way to start a conversation – and because we knew it wouldn't be anything serious – was a slight cause for worry.

We can never tell what the hell he's going to invent next.

It was another end of the day, everything but the moon and the stars that illuminated our way somewhat, were dark in the night.

We were, once again, making our way on an dirt road surrounded by trees, grass and mountains. These mountains were getting bigger while we were going further to the north.

As we predicted, if we continued on, we would be nearing the city of Barcelona in some days.

The last couple of days we didn't cross any village or town though, so we had to resort to our two wonderfully packed tents that were in Marie and Daisya's bags.

Sleeping in tents isn't the most comfortable thing ever of course, but I really like to, when it's my turn to be on guard, sit by an extinguishing fire and sometimes, see the sun rise on the horizon.

I love the feeling of being by myself in the quiet of the night. While hearing the sounds from the night life around me and the crackling of the fire, what I like to do is think.

Reflect peacefully about the past, the present, and wonder about the future it's an odd hobby but definitely the only one that can keep me successfully awake guarding our little camping park and my friends.

"I was just thinking..." Daisya's voice broke through my little reverie " ...what would we be if all this stuff about Akumas, Innocence and the Earl didn't exist." He finished still looking thoughtful.

"Be?" Marie asked simply while we were walking.

"Yes" Daisya said, suddenly more alive and energetic than before "What would we be...like what jobs would we have or something like that."

"Hm, I see" Marie said slowly, thinking.

Interesting question this time.

"Well, for you it's easy, you would definitely be a soccer player" I stated with a smile directed to Daisya.

He grinned happily back at me "Glad you think so too"

I chuckled at his beaming face. His love for that particular sport is never-ending.

"What about you, Sae?" Marie asked.

"Me?" I raised my eyebrows, thinking.

Next to me I felt Kanda looking at us from the corner of his eyes. So, he was interested in our conversation? Hmm...

"I think you would probably work with delinquents, or something that relates with dealing with difficult people." Daisya stated suddenly.

What. The. Hell.

"Huh?" I asked dumbly in absolute surprise.

"Yes. A job that only people with a lot of patience would do. Psychology would be something to consider too." Marie added.

Okay. They went crazy.

"I'm...officially lost" I said looking at both of them with an incredulous face "Delinquents and...patience...and here I was thinking I would like to have a job in which I would have to learn multiple languages."

"Ah..." Both Daisya and Marie looked at me with their eyebrows raised.

I didn't like those expressions.

"What?" I asked furrowing my eyebrows and crossing my arms across my chest.

I looked at Kanda to see if he had any similar reaction but he just looked somewhere else.

Irritating.

"Well" Daisya started, breaking the temporary silence " What about Marie?".

Tough one.

Kanda's silent voice broke the thoughtful silence "Marie can do anything"

Good thinking. "True" I said in slight awe for Kanda's participation in the conversation and for the good answer.

Daisya chuckled. "Yeah, but I sort of imagine him working with children"

I laughed at Daisya's hypothesis while seeing a smile forming on Marie's lips "That's a nice image. Maybe Marie could help me on the delinquents place too"

Daisya laughed "That would be awesome"

"What do you think Marie?" I asked him.

"It would be an honor" He smiled.

Beside me, Kanda was shaking his head slightly. He was probably ashamed to know us. Poor guy.

"Now..." I started with a mischievous voice "What about Kanda?"

Marie, Daisya and I looked at Kanda with thoughtful faces while he glared at us, challenging us to say something out of line.

What job could Kanda have? This one is even harder than Marie's alleged employment.

I can't really imagine Kanda doing anything other than being an exorcist and going around slicing Akumas up with his wonderful Mugen.

Maybe that could be part of the answer.

"I know!" I said suddenly.

They looked at me expectantly.

"Kanda would be a samurai" I stated.

And they looked at me like I had gone mad.

"Samurai's don't exist anymore, Sae" Marie said, probably worried about my sanity.

"Yeah, I know. But Kanda wouldn't care" I replied, flashing a little grin to Kanda's narrowed eyes. "Oh, C'mon Kanda, don't look at me like that. You should be proud of me for having had such a fitting guess."

He rolled his eyes.

"I kind of like your suggestion" Daisya said.

"Thanks" I chuckled.

After a moment, Daisya spoke up again "You know, he could be like Rurouni Kenshin or something."

I looked at him in confusion but then it dawned on me. "You mean Samurai X? Kenshin Himura?" I asked him in awe.

"Yeah, the wandering samurai" Daisya grinned brightly.

I laughed out loud. This guy is worst than me.

"Are you talking about that story that you told us some months ago?" Marie asked.

"Yeah" I smiled at him.

Rurouni Kenshin is a collection of books that Daisya showed me months ago. They were written by some Japanese guy and the texts were accompanied by some drawings. It's a wonderful story that involves a lot of history of Japan and I got so addicted that one day, while on a mission with Marie and Kanda, I told them the story.

I remember Marie saying that he thought it was an interesting story but Kanda had grown a little fed up with my blabbering. The usual.

"It makes some sense. But Kanda would always be in the _Battousai_ mode though. Kenshin Himura is too nice." I said chuckling "Or maybe he could be Hajime Saito from the _Shinsengumi_ and be all _Aku Soku Zan_ everywhere"

Daisya laughed and Marie chuckled at my growing theories.

"Slay evil immediately" I heard Kanda saying quietly.

I looked at him in surprise only to see him looking ahead thoughtfully.

Was he even considering it as a good theory? Sounds like he sort of liked the _Aku Soku Zan_ thing to me.

But maybe that was a dangerous thing, I really don't want him appreciating the Hajime Saito character. God, he has an awful personality, he's way worse than Kanda.

But at least Kanda's evolving a little. He's even participating in our conversations somewhat and not trying to kills us for all the slander against him.

Even though that's so much fun.

___________________________________________________________________

"Hey-_BZZ_-wh-_BZT_" I heard Daisya's voice through my wireless golem.

"Huh? What did you just say?" I asked.

"The sound quality sucks, Daisya" I heard Marie saying.

"_BZZZZ_-Ah, hell, my wireless golem hasn't been doing so well lately" Daisya replied.

"Where are you guys right now?" Kanda asked.

"Around 3km east of that-_BZT_-odd tower?" I heard Daisya replying, a little uncertain.

"I'm about 5km west of it" Marie said quietly.

"2km to the north, more or less" I said.

We had reached Barcelona a few hours ago and we were caught by surprise by the overwhelming number of Akumas that were here so we split up to try and finish them off.

They were so much, it was ridiculous. What the hell was happening?

"Che, I'm to the south" Kanda said, muttering "So damn annoying" next.

"_BZZA_-Looks like it's going to be a long night..." Daisya commented.

"No kidding" I said in a unhappy tone. I didn't like this one bit.

"I can hear the noises of Akuma here and there...looks like we've entered their gathering place." Marie said.

I sighed.

"Let's regroup." Kanda stated "If we're within 10km radius, we should be able to use our golems to find each other's locations."

"Then, Kanda-_BZZT_-Sae and I will meet up where you are Marie" Daisya's voice said accompanied by the static.

"When?" Marie asked.

I looked around me to see more Akumas approaching.

"At daybreak" Kanda's fierce voice reached my hears.

"Good luck" I wished them.

Getting up from where I had sat to recover my breath I could see a mass of fiery colorful Akumas. They sickened me.

Such an horrible thing disguised as an colorful object.

Kind of like a destructive toy that could be potentially alluring to a child.

It's sick and gruesome.

And yet, I can't totally ignore one part of its nature, one that I can't hate. The human souls that were trapped on the inside.

So, let's do the right thing and destroy the Akumas to save the souls.

We're destroyers that save. We destroy in order to save.

"Dual, Activate"

We're exorcists.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Another Disclaimer:** I don't own the manga/anime Rurouni Kenshin (also known as Samurai X).

Oh, and I really like Hajime Saito XD even though he really has an awful personality.

And Daisya had to ruin the moment between Kanda and Sae. He almost got kicked, poor guy ^^

I hope Sae isn't too...uh...lame?

She likes to play with fire huh? I just noticed that XD

I don't know if you noticed but they always travel in the same formation. Daisya and Marie at the front, Sae and Kanda at the back.

**Next chapter** is going to be a sad one and I'm sure it will be a hard one to write so be patient with me please.

And I take this opportunity to inform that i really hate the word _soccer._ It should be _football_. The end.

And I just noticed too that I never really spoke about the title of this story – _Butterflies & Hurricanes_. Well, it was inspired by a song from the band Muse with the same title. Even if you don't like the band, the lyric is somewhat interesting...it's about a last chance I guess, a last chance for something and a last chance that needs to be taken ^^ Of course Butterflies and Hurricanes can have other meanings too so don't take it literally ;)

**So...what about reviewing?** =D


	7. Vertigo

**Disclaimer:** I don't own D. Gray-Man. Just my OCs.

I apologize in advance for any mistakes and any English spelling errors, as usual.

IMPORTANT: **I'm a lousy updater. Forgive me! University started again and it's my last year! I've got to work and concentrate so...****this means that the updates on this story are going to slow down a bit. That probably means months in between chapters. I'm not giving up this story though.**** I'm just going to take my time with it and slow down. University is my top priority. I'm sorry for this but be patient, when I have time and inspiration I will write! =D**

Feel free to check out the image on my profile page! I drew a little sketch of Sae.

Enjoy ^^

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**7th Chapter**

**Vertigo**

The sun was almost rising.

That didn't mean the Akumas were less.

In fact, they were never-ending! And it was annoying!

I am irritated.

And tired.

And sick of playing hide and seek with these morons..._things_.

And worried.

Imagine I'm late to join them at daybreak...

_Kanda will kill me_. Seriously.

_Sigh._

It's not like these Akumas are very hard to get rid of, but they are so many that it's frustrating.

Maybe I should get a little serious...

What a pain in the ass.

I turned to my left hiding myself against a wall of a nearby building and willed my breath to normalize.

In my hand, I was gripping my innocence. In one of it's tips there was a shiny silver blade.

I guess someone could call it a sword.

But the truth wasn't quite like that.

I gripped my innocence with my right hand and put it horizontally in front of me and concentrated.

Feeling a nice warm feeling in my hand and a white flame-like shine surrounding my innocence, I suddenly raised my left hand and gripped it too.

Suddenly, from the left tip of my innocence an identical blade came out.

I retreated from my hiding place and faced the swarming Akumas.

I moved my legs away from each other, preparing, and fixed my eyes on what was before me.

Now, we can solve the problem.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Kanda and Marie were ahead of me while I looked around at our surroundings looking for any sign of Daisya.

He hadn't appeared on the place we had settled and we were trying to find him.

We tried to contact him through his golem but it has problems and static is all that we can hear.

This was the area where Daisya was when we agreed to join at daybreak. Everything was too silent for my liking.

Kanda and Marie both stopped under an archway made of big old gray stones that connected to a big courtyard.

I approached them with my eyebrows furrowed. Kanda was leaning on one of the archway's walls with his arms crossed and head bent. I couldn't see his face.

"Daisya's golem..." Marie said slowly.

I paused and looked at it, confused.

What? The golem is here, so what? That means Daisya is near. Marie should have already picked out the sound of his heart beating or the sound of his breathing, why wasn't he leading us to him?

My mind only picked the meaning of it some moments later. My eyes widened in disbelief, shock.

"What? No. No." I said in the icy silence.

I looked at Kanda and Marie but none of them met my eyes.

It...it wasn't possible...was it?

I felt my insides freezing with the idea and my heart speeding up on my chest.

I took off to the open courtyard looking around quickly for something.

I saw nothing, but I looked again, more closely, from where I stood.

And then something near one of the street lamps caught my eye.

Something silver.

My heart was beating uncontrollably.

My steps were uneasy, faltering and weak as I approached the street lamp that confirmed my worst fears.

The second I saw his face it was like an entire mountain had crushed over me breaking everything in me.

"No..." Was the weak pitiful sound that came out of my mouth.

_The Exorcist Daisya Barry is dead._

__________________________________________________________________

After the morbid discovery, Marie had come led me back to the archway. They were going to take care of things. His voice had been sad.

I was left there for God knows how long. The sun had already risen.

Inside me, it felt like ice was keeping company to the emptiness. I could barely think.

Eventually, Marie came for me.

I followed him blindly for some minutes until we reached what looked like a dock.

It was almost deserted . Its was still very early in the morning.

Kanda was with some old man, probably a boat owner. I assumed the body would be shipped back to HQs.

Daisya's body was laid on some sort of cloth on the ground, some meters from where Kanda and the man were.

I felt the coldness wash over my body again to intensify in the pit of my stomach.

I was feeling sick, my legs were shaking.

I closed my fists tightly burying my nails on my palms until they felt numb.

My face hardened while I gritted my teeth underneath the thin line my lips were forming.

I was trying to control myself for a little longer.

I couldn't predict how much though.

As we got nearer, Marie kept on walking in silence leaving me there to look at Daisya's _too_ pale face.

I felt my throat run dry.

I gulped.

Watching Daisya's lifeless face again was being too difficult.

But this is my chance to say goodbye. That's what I'll do.

As I finally stood next to his body I dropped down on my knees.

The floor was cold.

Everything was cold.

Including someone that should not.

"Daisya..." I heard a raspy voice whispering.

I didn't even recognized my own voice.

_I want answers_.

Logic reasons for you not to be right here, sitting next to me with your boyish grin, teasing me because it's morning and I must look like hell.

The whys and the hows. All of that. I want to know.

I need to.

A spark of life, of history. A personality, a brain, a soul. A person.

How can such a huge happening such as a person and all that revolves around that person can just _disappear_?

Like that.

Like nothing.

Like it never happened.

Meant to be forgotten and overcame.

Like it makes any sense.

Like it's supposed to be.

Answers. I would like that. If I can't have nothing else.

Why won't you be there to back me up while I tease Kanda about him being a samurai with associations with Kenshin Himura?

Why won't you be there making me laugh with your insane theories and questionable stories?

I don't think that this world is supposed to exist when you're no longer here.

I've never imagined it.

And yet, it is happening.

I don't quite understand it.

Am I supposed to?

I want you to be alive and well. To breathe. To be happy. To win this war and play soccer for a living. To marry and have kids. To let me be the godmother of one of them.

It would be a stupid little made up fairytale.

But you would be there, alive. And I would be there too, next to you, able to see your smile and witness your happiness.

And I would be incredibly and idiotically happy about it.

And now I am crying.

The tears were too hot on my cold skin. They were almost burning me.

I raised my hand. It was numb, shaky and cold. I couldn't care less.

I gently stroke Daisya's face.

And he was so cold.

_So lifeless_.

_I hate it._

I bent down and kissed his forehead softly.

"Goodnight Daisya" My voice was trembling "Maybe I'll see you again...one of these days..."

I looked at his face. Memorizing it in my head.

For the last time.

_Ever._

I couldn't take it any longer.

And then I let out a choked sob.

I gritted my teeth trying to block anymore sounds and got up and walked away from where Daisya's body was.

I hid myself quickly behind a large container that was nearby.

Covering my mouth with my hands in a weak attempt to muffle the desperate sobs, I felt the stung of the river of flowing tears running down my face.

I couldn't see anything.

I could just feel the pain.

And it was too much. Too damn much.

I let myself cry trying to believe that it could somehow ease my suffering.

Minutes later, I felt a touch on my shoulder and turned sharply to see what it was.

The blurry image of Kanda was what I got, I couldn't see his expression.

I quickly turned around again and hid my face on my hands not wanting Kanda to see me this helpless.

So broken. So fragile. So _pathetic_.

"Sae" Kanda said quietly, softly.

And it was too soft, it was too sweet of a sound that came out of Kanda's lips. That broke me even more. It broke any of my defenses that still prevailed at this moment.

Hearing such a gentle sound made me feel even more desperate, longing for an escape, for comfort.

And so I turned again and, stepping closer, I embraced him tightly.

He just stood there, a little out of balance from my sudden movement but otherwise unmoving.

But I needed more, I wanted warmth, I wanted the pain to go away.

"Kanda" I whispered in a husky pleading voice. "Please..." I managed between my tears unable to say more, hoping he would understand what I was asking.

He did.

Soon, uncertain but strong and warm arms were embracing me back.

I tightened my embrace a little more and just let it all out.

Inside everything was burning. Like an ice cube that burns you as much as fire would.

Through tears and sobs I almost couldn't breathe. My chest was hurting.

Only pain was real.

Kanda's warmth was like a dream, I couldn't quite reach it yet, maybe when I woke up I would.

I have no idea of how long we stood there. Me in Kanda's arms. I never really did process that information in my brain.

_Daisya. Daisya. Daisya. You're gone. Forever._

_I can't..._

_You won't..._

_Daisya, Daisya..._

Kanda didn't leave.

________________________________

I gave a deep shaky breath and, in a raspy voice, said to Kanda " I'm sorry".

"Shut up" He answered promptly but lacking the usual harshness.

I didn't let go. I was tired now and had an increasing headache from all the crying and the shock. I really needed a good night of sleep, even though it was still morning.

I relaxed into the embrace, relishing what I knew now to be an unprecedented event.

He hadn't let go still.

"Thank you" I managed to say softly. I was truly grateful for him to be there. For the warmth of his presence.

"I said to shut up" I heard him reply.

I sighed "Yeah" And then, with my forehead still on Kanda's chest, I tightened my embrace a little more and finally let go.

While I was stepping away from him, Kanda quickly withdrew his arms from around me, turned sharply and walked away.

I never had the chance to see his face.

___

After some moments while I calmed myself down, tried to wipe the tears on my face, breathed deeply and tried to assure myself that I wouldn't start crying as soon as someone spoke to me, I took some unsure steps to where I had been before.

Daisya's body was no longer there.

I started a fight to smother all the feeling raging inside.

I spotted Kanda and Marie sitting at some distance from me.

Marie had a somewhat amused little smile on his lips while Kanda seemed angry about something.

The usual.

Without someone..- _don't go there._

When I reached them I cleared my throat and said quietly " I need to sleep".

Kanda looked at me from the corner of his eyes.

"Yes, we have a room in a hotel nearby already. Reever made the connections and arranged everything." Marie declared quietly in his usual calm speech with an hint of sadness that was barely there. His expression was kind.

"Reever?" Kanda asked looking at him.

"Komui was busy at the moment. The number of fatal attacks have been increasing."

I averted my eyes from them, a sudden fear running through my veins. Fatal attacks. Increasing.

_Don't. Go. There._

"Lead the way, Marie" I said breaking the uncomfortable silence that had installed.

Let us try to find a way to look forward for tomorrow again.

Although, forgetting the past is not included.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

This chapter was hard to write, emotionally. I really hope it didn't turn out lame.

It is a short chapter...I know.

I really liked to write Daisya. He really got me, I enjoyed him immensely here in B&H.

I never knew that I liked him this much. Sae's fault, guess XD

For the reviewer named **James Birdsong**, thank you! Even though I had never heard the word '_neato_' before in my whole life. Oh well, I'm learning new things XD

And for the reviewer named **The Reader Over There**, thank you very much for the review! =D I'm glad you like the title of this story. I love it =3

And! For the reviewer named **SuperFantabReaderOrder-UP **(such a long name! XD ) thank you very much! I'm glad you like Sae that much, I do try to make her 'real' ^^ And please don't wait desperately for updates! Wait patiently, it's healthier and I'm really slow at writing XD Thank you for your reviews!

**What about reviews?** =D yes, yes, come on! Be nice, make my day, review!

Tell me how did you like how I wrote Daisya in these past chapters! I want to know =)

**Oh, and don't forget to read the note on the top of this chapter please!**


	8. In Between

**Disclaimer:** I don't own D. Gray-Man. Just my OCs.

I apologize in advance for any mistakes and any English spelling errors, as usual.

IMPORTANT: **I'm on my last year of college so I've got to work and concentrate...****this means that the updates on this story are going to slow down a bit. That probably means months in between chapters. I'm not giving up this story though.**** I'm just going to take my time with it and slow down. University is my top priority. I'm sorry for this but be patient, when I have time and inspiration I will write! =D**

Enjoy ^^

* * *

**8th Chapter**

**In Between  
**

The next day, or should I say, the next night, since our schedules were upside down, very few words were exchanged.

From the information the we had gotten some time ago, our General would probably be somewhere at the north of this city. We had to follow the lead. We couldn't stop now that we were so close.

I'm not looking forward to tell General Tiedoll...

So without much delay we ate something and kept on moving through the still night.

I was mostly focused on thinking about anything but what weighted on my heart. It was still so fresh...I felt like if I put my finger on it, I would bleed until I had nothing more to bleed.

Instead I tried to enjoy my surroundings. The moon was high in the sky and the street lights illuminated our way.

As time passed and we moved on, the houses, streets and lights decreased. We were almost out of the city.

The night went on and when the sun was rising again, we found an old man on our way.

We got lucky again as he indicated us to continue moving north.

We paused to eat and rest a bit.

It was after our "lunch" hour that we reached a new and uncommon view. We saw ruins and a big lake with several little islands.

And it wasn't long after that we saw a familiar gray head in the middle of some weird shaped mass of stones.

We had finally found General Tiedoll. And my feet hurt like hell.

"General is drawing as usual" Marie informed us. He had probably heard the sound of crayons scribbling on paper.

"Figures. Such a view here" I said.

When Kanda didn't gave us a snappy comment about how the General and his constant drawing pissed him off, I turned and really looked at him.

He was a bit paler than normal and didn't wear the usual frown on his face.

He was simply looking ahead to where General Tiedoll was, with eyes that lacked some of their usual harshness and brightness. Right now they lacked life.

_What's going on, Kanda?_

He must have felt my eyes on him because he faced me. "What?" He asked.

I didn't respond. I wanted to ask If he was alright, If I could do anything for him, If he wanted to talk, to tell me what as on his mind at that moment.

I wanted to wipe those lifeless eyes from him, I wanted him to be irritated at me, I wanted to see that flash of irritation in his eyes that told me that everything was the same. _Even if it wasn't._

I wanted to feel his warmth again. The warmth that I had felt yesterday. But I wasn't about to make a move on whatever that meant to do because I didn't know where we stood. Will such a simple thing such as an embrace change things?

What? No. That's ridiculous. Am I stupid or what?

I simply shook my head letting his question drop in silence.

_I want too many things from him..._

He continued to look ahead.

"General" Marie called when we were close enough.

General Tiedoll turned around and his surprised eyes took us in while a smile spread on his lips " Oh! Long time no see!".

_________

"So you came all this way just to find me? Well, I surely feel loved!" General stated pleasantly.

I smiled at him. Kanda snorted.

"Where is Daisya anyway? Wasn't he supposed to be with you?" General asked.

The smile that I had on my lips vanished in a blink of an eye. Silence fell between us.

None of us wanted to answer that question.

General looked at us questioningly.

"General..." Marie started in a sad tone of voice. He paused and sighed, moving his hand to his face shaking his head.

He couldn't do it. It hurt me seeing Marie like that.

He is strong, so strong, in my mind he's almost invincible, like a rock – unchangeable – why do I have to see him like this? So down, so vulnerable...

I didn't like to see him like this. At all.

"Daisya..." I started in a small choked voice attracting General's attention. I gulped and looked him in the eye "Daisya is dead" I finished shakily.

General's eyes widened and searched mine as if disbelieving and then, they grew sad and watery.

General Tiedoll was crying.

" I see...so Daisya is dead. It's...it's so sad..." General managed to say between hiccups and tears.

A tear fell from my eye and I turned my head away from them. It was hurting too much again.

"That kid...always loved to play pranks on me, using the charity bell to crack my glasses...He was such a good kid, too..."

A chuckle left my lips and more tears fell from my eyes and I lowered my head to hide my face.

Oh, I've heard so many stories about Daisya's pranks on everyone through the years...

"The body was shipped to headquarters yesterday" Marie said silently.

"The charity bell has been taken as well" Kanda's quiet tone of voice was heard.

How out of character, how strange to hear that type of voice coming from him.

"General Tiedoll." Marie started calmly. "I humbly request that you return with us".

Ignoring what Marie had just said, General asked "If I recall correctly, Daisya's hometown was Bodrum, right?"

"Eh?" Marie asked caught out of guard "Ah, yes.".

I looked up.

General snatched his drawing materials and started scribbling something on paper. "It's a beautiful Aegean sea town."

We cast him confused glances.

"General, the enemy is targeting you and the innocence you possess" Kanda told him with an hint of irritation ins his voice.

General paid him no mind "This is just an illustration of the memories I saw, so it'll probably be a little different..." He took the drawing and put it in front of him.

We saw a drawing of a little town by the sea. It was light and calm.

"Daisya..." General rose to his feet. His voice was sorrowful "I'm sorry it's just a drawing, but I'm sending your hometown to you. May you rest on peace, somehow..." He took a match out of nowhere and lit it, burning the drawing.

_Oh..._

In between the sounds of the paper crackling, General Tiedoll said quietly "I can't return...We're in the middle of a war now. I will live up to my responsibilities as a General. Moreover..." The drawing turned to dust and flew away in the breeze "I need to find new exorcists. If God hasn't abandoned us, I am certain he will yet again send us new disciples."

I heard Kanda sighing under his breath " I knew he was going to say that."

Marie chuckled quietly " Right, typical of the General"

I sniffed and smiled "We will accompany you, General Tiedoll."

General gave me a similar teary smile.

I wiped my face from the tears and waited until the General had came down from the ruins.

He came towards us and approaching Marie, they clasped each others shoulders and gave a hug. "Good to see you, Marie". Marie nodded and smiled. "You too, General"

Approaching Kanda, General Tiedoll flashed him a big smile and patted his shoulder vigorously " Hello Yuu-kun! I'm so happy you are well my son!"

Kanda glared at him and retrieved his shoulder away from the General. "Che".

While turning to me, the General simply opened his arms and said "Come here, Sofia"

I smiled at hearing that name and approached the General letting him give me a big, warm and full of 'fatherly love' (as he put it) embrace.

"Ah, my beautiful daughter! How are you?" He asked with a cheerful voice and kind knowing eyes as he let me go from his embrace.

I shrugged "Living".

His eyebrows rose "No good, no good...Your eyes are all red and your face is sticky" He reached for something in his backpack. "There" And proceeded to stick a rag in my face.

The problem was..."This is full of paint!" I said indignantly while I took it away from my face.

I heard chuckles from Marie and from General, I was sure Kanda was smirking inside.

I touched my face and looked at my fingers. " I'm green...and yellow!" I glared at General.

"Well go wash your face and wash the rag too, please" He smiled at me.

"You could have just asked me nicely!" I shouted at him stomping off to the direction of the lake.

Yes, General likes to tease Kanda.

And he likes to infuriate me too.

* * *

The next weeks were a blur full of traveling, feet ache, back ache and incontrollable urges to slice things up.  
I guess now I understand how Kanda feels. Even if it's for very different reasons.

We went further to the north and lost a lot of hours of our lives on trains. How amazing is that?

And so, after hours and hours of boredom, despair and a few death threats from Kanda, we crossed all Europe and reached the north of China.

I swear that when we got out of that train, I really wanted to kneel down and kiss the ground. Or roll on the ground. Or jump around like a crazy kid. Or even take a piggy-ride from Kanda just because.

Not wise, though.

But even so, those weeks had been essential.

We talked about what was happening, possibilities, facts we got from HQs when we where able to communicate with them. We talked about Daisya's death and the possible causes.

General wasn't very open with his plans but we trusted he knew what he was doing and so we followed him. He doesn't have the title of 'General' just for show.

We didn't found many Akumas which was strange.

I had time to somehow mend the wound that Daisya's death had caused. I will love him very much for the rest of my life and I will remember him every day and cherish the memories I have from him, but I will move on and not dwell too much on the death of my dear friend.

He would be happy. I am sure of that.

The life on the train was weird and full of back ache.

Strange, huh?

Well this happened because our 'bedrooms' in the train had two beds and I shared my bedroom with General. The problem was, he snored...way too loud, so I couldn't sleep.

This happening, I would go to the common area of the train with those comfy sofas and tables, and stayed there with my head resting on my arms and eventually fell asleep.

Some days after this started happening I even got the company of Kanda, that had heard me moving around and came to see what I was up to.

And then he started to stick around.

I only know that he started to sit with me every night but then, since we stayed silent, I would fall asleep and when I woke up he wouldn't be there anymore.

What to make of that? I really have no idea.

The truth was, sleeping that way for some weeks was not good. At all.

My back still hurts from the memory.

Another memory that makes me, actually, shiver, didn't take place on a train.

It was when we were at the north of Spain.

_

_We encountered stray Akumas again._

_This time they were around twenty or so and most of them were level 1._

_We decided to split up in two groups and while General and Kanda went one way, Marie and I went to the other._

_Everything was under control when suddenly, out of nowhere, more Akumas appeared._

_I got separated from Marie._

_All I know is that sometime later I was fighting a few Akumas on a clearing, near a cliff, so I had to watch my step with twice the attention._

_The last Akuma that I was fighting was one of those panicky level 2 idiots and he started throw a bunch of stones at me._

_Well, that was irritating and I was starting to get pissed off._

_What the hell was up with this one?_

_The truth was, the stones that the Akuma was throwing were starting to get sharper and sharper and when I got close enough to give him the final blow, the Akuma stabbed my arm with one hell of a pointy, sharp rock._

_Well, that didn't kept me from slice him from head to toe._

_If that thing can be called an head, and that other thing, a toe._

_Whatever._

_After that I looked carefully around me but I was alone on the clearing._

_I took a peek at my wound, the rock was still stuck but I needed help to take it off and treat the bleeding. I had to find one of them._

_It was on that exact instant when I turned around to go look for the others that, out of the blue, an Akuma appeared and stroke me._

_I tried to evade it but I wasn't quick enough and got thrown some meters in the air and landed painfully on my wounded left arm with a loud cry._

_The rock was stuck even more deeply in my flesh._

_My innocence slipped from my hand and fell away from me._

_I kept rolling on the ground from the strength of the blow._

_But when I thought that I would stop, I was suddenly falling._

_Only air underneath me._

_Gravity pulling me down._

_I was falling from the cliff._

_I screamed._

_For some terrifying moments I thought that was the end._

_I felt anguished._

_But then, I heard a buzzing sound of something and that was when I was wrapped in something and I stopped falling._

_Marie's strings._

_I gasped._

"_Sae! Hang on!" I heard his voice shout from the top of the cliff._

_But Marie's strings weren't made for holding. Let alone holding people._

_And the strings that weren't being ripped apart with my weight, were making tiny cuts on my clothes, some of them, already on my skin._

_I gulped "Marie..." My voice was hoarse, scared and too low, but I knew Marie could hear me "They're ripping apart"_

_As I said this, some of the strings broke and I was yanked down some more meters by the gravity._

_I shrieked._

_But I was there, still there._

_And miraculously, an hand, one that I knew well, appeared and held me, pulling me up._

_I knew I was safe._

_General Tiedoll's innocence had rescued me._

_I was deposited on solid ground and I gasped, regaining the breath that I had been holding._

"_Sofia!" General called, running in my direction. "Sofia, are you okay?" He asked, hands on my face._

"_M-my arm..." I was shaking, I realized._

"_She might be in shock" Marie's voice was laced with quiet worry._

"_Definitely __**not**__. __Just mend my s-stupid arm." I snapped. I was still shaking but the pain on my arm was taking over my senses. I just wanted it to go away._

_I gritted my teeth._

"_Where's my innocence? Where's Dual?" I asked suddenly with a panicky voice._

"_I've got it" Kanda's voice reached my hears and relief washed over me._

"_Okay. Yuu, make a small fire, Marie get our bags. We need to take the the piece of rock out of her arm, stop the bleeding, treat the wound and apply some bandages." General was quick and efficient. He looked at me "It's going to hurt"_

_I sighed shakily." I know"_

___

And it did hurt. Like hell.

Being an exorcist for some years, of course it was not the first time being hurt like that, but it didn't matter how many times, the pain is always overwhelming.

* * *

"So, we are going to Edo" General Tiedoll stated.

"Japan?" Marie asked.

"Yes, I have business there"

"And how are we going to get there?" I asked, already fearing the worst.

"Well, we have to get to the east coast of China and then we have to get on a ship to get to Japan" General answered.

"And how are we going to get to the coast?" I asked slowly.

"Why, we'll go on a train of course!" General said cheerfully.

"AGAIN?!"

The life! The life that I'm losing in trains!

Why doesn't anyone understand my pain?

_ARGHH_!

* * *

Yay! A little time to do this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, even if it is a little uneventful.

Ah...Christmas vacations...even if they are really just a lie because I have tons, and tons, and TONS of work to do. But at least I had the time to write this =D (while not doing things I should do XD )

And yes, well, if Sae is Portuguese of course her real name is NOT Sae...LOL XD It will be explained later in the story =)

____

For the reviewer **cupcakes – **No puppy eyes, nope! That won't work! =P I'm glad you're enjoying my story =D Thank you for the review!

And for the reviewer **SuperFantabReaderOrder-UP **please do be patient =P I'm very glad you like my characterization of Kanda, he's a difficult character to bend the way I want but I'm doing my best =) Thank you for the review and thank you for the patience!

____

**Reviews please!** =D yes, yes, come on, make my day! Tell me what you think!

And a little side-story coming up in a few days!!


	9. Side Story: The Blind One

**Disclaimer:** I don't own D. Gray-Man. Just my OCs.

I apologize in advance for any mistakes and any English spelling errors, as usual.

IMPORTANT: **I'm on my last year of college so I've got to work and concentrate...****this means that the updates on this story are going to slow down a bit. That probably means months in between chapters. I'm not giving up this story though.**** I'm just going to take my time with it and slow down. University is my top priority. I'm sorry for this but be patient, when I have time and inspiration I will write! =D**

A little gift for you! Enjoy ^^

* * *

**9th Chapter**

**Side Story: The Blind One**

The familiar sound of a pencil scribbling on paper.

Some thoughtful "Hum..." and some concentrated "Ah"coming from that persons mouth.

That should be a normal situation by now.

But that person's figure was actually crouching behind a door while peeking outside.

_That_ made Marie stop.

Because General Tiedoll doesn't draw while hiding himself.

And _that_ got Marie curious.

Yes, Marie couldn't exactly see with his eyes, but his increased senses were so powerful that sensing the wind whipping around things and people, he could, in his mind, create a map of sorts of where everything and everyone was, and how. He actually saw, but with his mind. A construction based on a variety of information.

What he saw was in fact, much more than any other people.

While walking to the General, Marie had already a theory on his mind but he was actually doubting it since it seemed too dangerous and reckless of General to be true.

General Tiedoll, noticing Marie's arrival, simply took one of his fingers to his mouth "Shh".

So General was pretty serious about it, Marie concluded.

And when finally, he peeked out to see, with his senses, what General was drawing, he was surprised to discover that he had actually guessed right but still, he couldn't really have guessed that it would be quite exactly _that_.

Sae and Kanda.

_That_, he had guessed.

He just hadn't guessed _how_.

Sae was lying down on her side on the wooden ground of the boat, sleeping.

And Kanda was sitting down with his eyes closed, beside her.

The thing was, since Sae was lying down on a step of the boat, facing Kanda, and he was sitting bellow that step, somehow tilted to where she was, their heads were at the same height and were nearly touching.

He could understand why General Tiedoll would want to draw this scene.

It wasn't exactly one we would witness everyday.

They seemed so intimate, so comfortable.

Such peaceful faces. Even Kanda's.

Which reminded Marie that Kanda isn't really the type to take a nap or even to take it in broad day light.

Let's not even bring up the fact that he has company and who she is.

And how the hell Kanda hasn't realized that General has been here, drawing, for a while, yet?

Marie concentrated on the sound of Kanda's beating heart. He was almost sure he was sleeping.

Just 'almost' because Marie couldn't really read Kanda through his heart beats very well. Unlike most of the people, Kanda had a surprisingly good control over that. He had acquired it along the years.

That way he could slow his heart beat whenever he wanted. And Marie couldn't tell a lot of things about Kanda that he could with other people.

When people lie, their heart beats increase and change. Little nuances that Marie could sense on almost everyone. Therefore, most of the time, Marie couldn't tell if Kanda was saying the truth or not, his heart beats remained the same.

But well, occasionally Kanda let his guard down and Marie could apprehend a lot of things.

Right now, Kanda heart beat was very slow, like Sae's. So he could pretty much guess that they were both sleeping, and that was the reason why Kanda hadn't realized what was happening yet.

Marie smiled fondly at the two and turned away from the scene. Nothing wrong with them resting and nothing wrong with General drawing, right? So why interrupt at all?

It shall be interesting when both of them realize.

Oh yes, Noise Marie had a bit of slyness in him.

Just a bit though.

* * *

So, Noise Marie, went to do what he was doing previously, but always being very attentive to the sounds of Kanda and Sae heartbeats and breathing so that he would know when they were about to wake up.

And therefore, when Marie noticed Kanda's heart beating faster than it would asleep, he quickly and silently went to the place where General was.

Kanda was still with his eyes closed. He was sensing his surroundings. Evaluating everything. And he had probably heard General scribbling on paper already. This way he would quickly caught on what was happening.

General Tiedoll looked up at Marie guessing the reason for him to be there again.

"He's awake" Marie said silently to him.

General started calmly saving his drawing materials.

Kanda opened his eyes and looked straight at where they were with a glare. He turned to look at Sae for a second and then he got up quietly and walked straight to us.

_How sweet of you Kanda. Not wanting to disturb the sleeping girl._

"What the hell were you doing, old man?" Kanda asked General seething.

"Hmm, Yuu-kun? You woke up? But you were sleeping so soundly..." General asked innocently rising his eyebrows while he getting up with his stuff underneath his arms.

"Answer me" Kanda demanded, glaring.

"Oh I was just drawing, Yuu-kun. You know little old me, don't you son? Now, don't make a scene, you don't want to disturb Sofia's peaceful nap, right?" He pated Kanda's arm with a smile on his face and walked away.

General had escaped once again.

"Infuriating old man!" Kanda almost growled to General's retreating figure, and turned away to leave.

"Aren't you going to wake Sae up? It's getting cold outside" Marie asked quietly, stopping Kanda from leaving.

Kanda looked back at the still sleeping young woman.

His eyebrows furrowed."Che, like I care" And he walked away.

Marie chuckled at Kanda's answer and moved outside to wake Sae from her nap.

He was figuring it out, wasn't he? What a slow person, but well, it was Kanda after all.

How long would he deny it to himself? Would he even consider acknowledging it?

Knowing Kanda as well as he did, he would probably make a storm in a cup of water.

It was Sae after all, she knew him better than he thought. Even though she still didn't know enough.

Maybe that was the reason. But that could be solved.

It would be okay, Marie thought, because Sae wasn't just anyone and she had the heart, the will and the courage to deal with whatever was needed.

She already did.

* * *

"Oh...my...God!" Sae's shriek was heard throughout the ship.

"She saw it" General Tiedoll said cheerfully with an accomplished smile.

"She did" Marie nodded.

"What?" Kanda asked, looking at them suspiciously.

"Why don't you go and see Yuu-kun? I'm sure you will find it very...interesting" General said innocently.

Marie chuckled. "Yes, very refreshing too."

"Ho ho, indeed Marie, I think Sofia might be having the surprise of her life seeing such an unusual thing"

Kanda looked at both of them with irritation and abruptly got up and walked in the direction of Sae's room.

He was suspicious that had something to do with what had happened earlier that day. And he was not even a bit happy about it.

"Yuu-kun is too curious for his own good" General said affectionately.

Marie smiled "Indeed".

The next minutes were filled by Kanda's and Sae's voice.

"What are you doing here?" They heard Sae almost shriek.

"What's that on your hand?"

"None of your business"

"Let me see"

"No!"

A few moments in between.

"Hey! Give me that back!" Sae's aggravated shout cut the silence.

"Shut up"

"Don't look you idiot! I said it was none of your business! Hey!" Steps were heard "Don't ignore me! Argh!"

Kanda reappeared suddenly. He was furious.

"You..." He growled at the General holding the drawing in front of his nose."What the hell is this?"

Sae appeared behind Kanda.

"Yes Yuu-kun? Oh you've seen my drawing? Isn't it really heart warming? It is one of those drawings of a lifetime I daresay" General said pleasantly.

"What's your point, old man?" Kanda glared at General.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" General asked with his eyebrows raised.

"There's nothing obvious about it" Kanda stated sourly.

Sae saw her chance and snatched the drawing from Kanda's hand. He glared at her. She didn't seem fazed.

"This was on my bed, is it for me?" She asked to General Tiedoll.

"Yes Sofia, you can keep it if you wish" He smiled at her.

"I will, thank you" She said softly.

"Did you like it?" General asked suddenly.

"Eh?" Sae looked a little taken by surprise."Ah" She looked down at the drawing and unconsciously looked at Kanda.

She quickly moved her eyes to General Tiedoll. "Yes"

Kanda's frown deepened.

"I'm glad" General said lightly.

"Well, I'm going. Goodnight everyone" Sae quickly said and walked away without waiting for an answer, griping the drawing in one of her hands and trying to hide her blushing face with the other.

Which was pretty much pointless, because all of them had seen it.

General chuckled. "Well, what a cute reaction! But I'm going to sleep too. Goodnight!" And he got away once again.

Kanda was left glaring at where General disappeared to, again. "What the hell is that old man thinking?"

_Ah, perhaps trying to wake you up?_

"I'm off" He added curtly a moment after and disappeared through one of the corridors.

Marie nodded at Kanda and sighed when he was alone.

General liked to tease them too much.

_Kanda, you should really open your eyes._

And, this way, Marie was left to wonder critically if Kanda was blinder then he was.

* * *

I could say this is a goodie for all of you =D

Thank you very much for all the reviews, favorites, alerts and so on, obrigado!!  
Well, I had a lot of fun while writing this, I hope you had too when you were reading it!

And please, **review**!

**By the way, for the future**...should I do a crazy, somewhat risky twist in this story (with the possibility of some ridiculous/weird made up stuff coming out of nowhere) or should I continue with the...let's say, simplicity..(and just continue with this light feeling and keep it normal)?  
I would like to hear your opinion!

And a very happy new year to everyone!! =D


	10. Bend

**Disclaimer:** I don't own D. Gray-Man. Just my OCs.

I apologize in advance for any mistakes and any English spelling errors, as usual.

Well, it's been too long, God, almost an year..  
I've started this chapter so long ago but haven't really had the inspiration to finish it, but here it is!  
Thank you for sticking with the story after so much time since I last updated!

Enjoy the chapter =D

* * *

**10th Chapter**

**Bend**

"Every heart is much the same, we tell ourselves down here...the same chambers fed by veins, the same maze of love and fear..aaand, we thought you were a saint but the halo was an eye...it's hard to see how there could be so much dark...inside the light..." I hummed the rest of the tune.

I don't know why, but lying on the ground while watching the profound blue sky up there has a certain magic to it.

Maybe some people feel tiny in comparison with the vast blue above and that makes them feel uncomfortable somehow, confronted with the huge thing that is this world.

But for me, it just amazes me and comforts me to know that it's always there, sometimes covered with clouds, but there nonetheless, unmoving, unchangeable.

And so, so beautiful.

And now imagine, the vast blue sky above and the vast blue sea underneath. And imagine the slow, constant rocking of a ship and the gentle sea breeze. And imagine the soft warmth of the sun on your face.

It was like the earth was singing me a lullaby and I was dozing off.

"What the hell are you doing?"

That gave me a start. So much for the dozing off part.

I put my hand over my heart. It was beating like crazy.

"Jeez, Kanda, I know sometimes you want to kill me but still..."

"Che"

I turned my face to see him look up at the sky and sit next to me, closing his eyes.

"So, what are you doing?" He asked quietly.

"Hmm, I was trying to sleep but you kind of ruined it all..." I said with a trace of disappointed on my voice.

Kanda instantly glared at me, no doubt irritated at my tone of voice "Why...you little..."

I smiled at him and chuckled "You are way too easy to tease, Kanda dear"

"Shut it, baka" He hissed closing his eyes.

And easy to forgive the tease too...well, sometimes...

"Answer the damn question" Kanda persisted.

I raised my eyebrows, he's actually _asking_ it?

I moved my eyes to gaze at the sky again, and shrugged "Just resting and thinking – what does it look like?" I added under my breath.

He stayed silent.

"Are..." Kanda started, after a while.

I looked at him. He didn't meet my eyes.

"Are you okay?" He asked in a quiet voice with an hint of irritation.

I raised my eyebrows again. What is going on here?

"Okay?" I asked. Since I didn't think he was asking for my general well being, I wasn't getting the reason for the question.

"Yes." He almost hissed. But continued more quietly "About Daisya"

"Ah..." He moved his eyes to meet mine but I looked somewhere else.

The ice cold pain on the fresh wound is still very much alive..I feel it right now.

"Will I ever be okay about that?" I paused for a moment. "I don't think so. But I know what you mean, and yes, I am moving on, I have to, everyone has to. We can't stop just because someone has stopped...I mean, it's very hard to..accept that he's gone but, is there anything we can do besides letting him rest in peace and treasure our memories of him?" I let the question hung in the air without expecting an answer.

I gazed at the sky again.

"...Have you ever thought about revenge?" Kanda asked quietly after a moment of silence.

I frowned at the unexpected subject. "Revenge..."

We still didn't know what exactly happened on the night Daisya died. We discussed the possibility that the one that had killed him was a Noah, probably that huge Noah that we saw a few times, but all those times we saw him he never did anything, never made a move to attack us, why would he suddenly decide to kill one of us? It didn't make sense so that theory was poorly based.

Revenge...Should I be lusting for it? " I don't know.." I said quietly.

"..."

My eyes met Kanda's straight and steady stare. He was waiting for my answer.

I sighed. "I honestly don't know what I would do If I knew or if I was face to face with Daisya's murderer" It was the truth. "One thing I know for sure. I can't forgive. Destroying a life, I can't possibly forgive that"

I am not seething with rage, I am still mourning my friend's death.

"You really are such a softie" Kanda stated looking thoughtful.

Am I really?

I smacked his head.

"Oi! What the hell was that for?"

"Pff, for calling me such an uncute name" I scolded him.

"Does 'uncute' even exists?" He glared.

I chuckled "Good question"

"You are a softie..." Kanda started again.

"Would you quit that?" I cut off.

"But you are dangerous too" He resumed.

I raised my eyebrows. "I fail to see the logic behind that"

"You are the dangerous kind, too unpredictable, too honest. Just like you said, you don't know what you would do, you would probably be driven by your emotions and hell if I know what would they be, so it would be...dangerous"

Wouldn't I be like everyone else, then?

On the other hand, was this really Kanda? Such an extensive and detailed sentence... But I wasn't about pointing that out to him, I accepted this new side and thanked God for it. It wasn't everyday that Kanda was so willing to talk.

"...are you trying to say that I'm too blunt?" I questioned him.

"...Maybe" He said quietly. He was thoughtful too.

"Maybe?"

This guy is trying to kill my brain with inhuman logic I don't grasp.

"I would really appreciate if you didn't try to confuse me.."

"Shut up" He replied with a hint of irritation in his voice.

Oops, talk time is over, huh? I chuckled inwardly.

"Mood swings already, Kanda? You sound like a pregnant woman or an old lady with menopause" I smirked while watching Kanda suddenly turning his face to me glaring fiercely.

Messing with Kanda was so fulfilling.

Even so, today Kanda was a little weird. Seeing my little amused smirk, instead of getting even angrier, it seemed like he lost the will to stay pissed off at me.

"Are _you_ okay, Kanda?" I asked quietly, loosing the playfulness of before.

He sighed quietly, looked at the sky and then he looked straight at me "I'm fine" I knew he was being sincere.

I smiled at him "Good, now shut up and let me take a nap".

"Che"

I turned my body towards him to get comfortable and noticed him closing his eyes just before I closed mine for a peaceful nap while thinking about the impossibility that Kanda had been worried about me.

Well, sometimes, life was good.

* * *

Apparently someone was in big trouble. Literally.

We had just arrived at Edo, the feeling of the place was too dark to not notice, something was going on and it was not good at all.

We knew Marian Cross's team was here, so we hurried to somewhere we could have some visual on what was happening.

We still didn't know what would be General Tiedoll's course of action.

As we neared a high hill we saw a number of enormous Akumas walking right on top of Edo. They were huge, with unnatural repulsive shapes.

"Marie, what can you hears perceive...from over there?" General asked seriously.

After a moment of concentration "Among the noise of the Akumas large mechanical screeches, I can very faintly hear Lenalee...Lavi, and voices belonging to the rest of Cross's team." Marie stated.

Part of me was relieved, they were there and fighting, the other part of me felt anxious about what was happening.

"Okay..." General started slowly "Go to them"

That was a surprise. We looked back at General and silently, like a flash, we were gone.

* * *

It was hard to breathe, oh God, it was damn hard to breathe, to move, to think.

After reuniting with the other team, a big blow from the Millennium Earl himself was the the first warning that it wasn't going to be easy at all. Two Noahs were there too, the one that we had seen a few times and some other (oddly enough) good-looking one. Dangerous fellas.

Something happened to Lenalee, her hair was painfully short but other than that something strange was going on. The Millennium Earl had taken interest.

When the night came, it calmed down quite a bit, conversation had taken place and they introduced new exorcists, Miranda Lotto from Germany and Arystar Krory from Romania, both with wonderful powers, especially Miranda whose innocence was fascinating.

But then, suddenly, Lenalee was gone and the next minute so was Allen, Lavi, one guy that was with them whose name was Chaozii, then Kanda and then Arystar Krory. And in the next moment we were looking wide eyed to some strange object that resembled a messed up cube of sorts that was in the sky. Besides that, more than new 20 giant Akumas were coming towards again and all we had left was to fight and hope our comrades were safe, wherever they were in that ark, as Bookman had said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I gasped painfully. Hell, it seemed like I wasn't breathing, just gasping since every time I tried to breathe it would hurt so much that I would end up gasping instead.

"Are you okay?" I heard Marie asking.

"Not exactly.." I answered with a grimace while trying to feel my ribs so I could understand what was the damage.

"Broken ribs?" Marie asked while coming closer to where I was sitting.

I shivered with pain when brushing a bit too painfully over one of said ribs. "At least two, if not more"

"You shouldn't-" Marie started.

"..move too much, I know the deal Marie, thanks"

I looked around, all of those giant Akumas were now fortunately down for good but some of us were not exactly in good shape and we still didn't know anything about what had happened to those who had disappeared.

I was nervous about it, because who knew what had happened, who knew where they were, who knew if they were okay..So many exorcists. This was different from the normal missions we took as exorcists, the Earl was involved in this, Noah were here too, they were few but who knew if there were more of them? And those giant Akumas? I've never seen one like them, levels above sure, even though few, but giant like that? Never.

I was not liking it one bit. Of course there was nothing to like but I had a bad feeling.

And just as I had finished this thought something happened.

Seemed like everything was in slow motion. Screams of surprise, screams of doubt, screams of fear, screams of realization. To me it was secondary as I looked into the sky and the same feelings arose in me as I took in what I was seeing.

Surprise, another ark in the sky, just like the other.

Doubt, it was black unlike the other.

Fear, the other one, the one where we thought our comrades had gone was disintegrating, falling apart, disappearing.

Realization.

It disappeared.

I didn't quite registered in my mind the screams of despair of Miranda, the eerie silence after, Marie saying that he didn't hear anything anymore.

I was in shock. So much that I don't know how much time it passed or if I was even sitting down still, or if anything hurt still. It was like I wasn't in my body anymore. I only felt shock. It didn't felt real.

And suddenly, as fast as it had disappeared, a strong light appeared and before us was the ark again, whole.

It felt like a haze and only when I finally heard their voices I started regaining my senses. The voices of those who had disappeared.

Kanda's voice telling Marie to shut up in his usual pissed off kind of way was what snapped me back to reality.

I gasped for air as I sunk my hands on the dirt on the ground and realized that my eyes were burning with tears and the despair that had been overtaking me, was now being replaced by intense overwhelming relief.

"Oh god...god...it's okay..." I told myself in between sobs.

"Hey! Hey Sae, are you okay?" Marie asked as he approached hurriedly.

"What's going on?" I heard someone ask somewhere.

I craned my neck to look at Marie to answer his question but as I did I felt lightheaded.

"Oh, shit"

"What, what's happening Sae?" Marie asked as he crouched near me with worry in his face.

Relief and dizziness were not a good mix.

Oh, this is stupid. "I'm going to faint.." And as I said this the dizziness took over and I remember nothing more.

* * *

Everything hurt. Every damn thing hurt.

That was the first thing that came through my mind when I was waking up.

I moved the rest of my body tentatively trying to get out from the hazy state I was in. It hurt when I moved but it was fading away to soreness only, I noticed.

I opened my eyes a bit, it was too bright but I willed them to get adjusted slowly.

I heard a few whispers, I didn't understand them.

When I finally could, I looked around taking in my surroundings. We were in the HQs infirmary. Oh, good.

I heard someone approaching.

"Finally awake, are we now?" The head nurse asked as she quickly checked me.

"What happened?" My voice was hoarse and my mouth was dry.

"Well, you were brought here passed out and supposedly with only a few broken ribs...Of course there was more, there's always more." Her tone was scolding.

She sighed at my risen eyebrow and explained."One of the broken ribs was puncturing one of your organs, you had an internal bleeding"

At my horrified look she quickly added. "It's okay now, you've just been sedated so the pain wouldn't drive you crazy"

"How...didn't I noticed?"

"Well, adrenaline I suppose, exorcists are all the same, always pushing harder, always not knowing that sometimes it does break instead of just bending, even though I always say this to them, exorcists don't listen!" She was ranting now. But it was all worry as we all knew, even if the head nurse wasn't exactly the maternal type.

I smiled "Thank you" She stopped the rant and looked at me after checking my eyes.

She gave me a barely there smile."Be more careful"

"How are the others?"

"Everyone's fine, only Krory and Miranda are still out. Miranda will wake up in a matter of days, Krory though...well, we'll see"

I nodded. I was relieved.

"Anything you want?" Head Nurse asked.

"Water..and food, I think"

"Of course" She turned to leave.

"Huh...when will I be able to walk?" I asked.

She turned to me. "Two, three days, depending on how fast it heals. Internal wounds are far more dangerous than the others" And with this she turned and left through the door.

Oh, man, two, three days? How am I going to survive that?

Moving my eyes away from the door were the head nurse had disappeared, my eyes found other two beds occupied, one of them with Miranda, seemingly sound asleep and the other one with Lenalee patiently waiting for my eyes to find hers and smiling happily.

I grinned back at her. There is the person that will help me survive through this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

**SIDESTORY – When in Spain, speak...**

"General, please ask that man where could we find a place where we can make a phone call here."

"Me?"

"Yes..."

"Why?"

"Eh...because you're from Spain...so you know how to speak Spanish."

"...No I don't."

We stopped walking and looked at the General "What?" We asked all at once, looking at him with incredulous faces.

"I don't know how to speak Spanish. We're always speaking English so I forgot" He stated shrugging.

He just...

..forgot.

We groaned in unison.

Our General was too much.

* * *

**Disclaimer 2** : I don't own the song 'In the Dark' by Josh Ritter.

Thank you very much for all the reviews and I'm sorry to those I didn't reply to, it's easy to loose count when your head is busy ^^

I won't promise chapter all weeks, not even all months, I can only work on this when life and inspiration allow me to, unfortunately =) And truth to be told, I'm not a writer, not even close, I'm just doing this for fun =D  
For now I want to plan the plot of this story a little bit more carefully, because I want to stray a bit from the original story and I'll need time, of course =)

About last chapters of D. Gray-Man manga? I can't help it, I'm not happy with the series right now...it's too absurd. Let's see how it goes from now on.

Please review and let me know what you think!


	11. Authors Note

I'm very sorry to inform you that this story was **discontinued**.  
For more information, check my profile or read bellow.  
Thank you all for reading this and being there in this little adventure called _Butterflies & Hurricanes_! :)  
With love,

_lado-lunar  
_

" After a long, long, long time in which I never forgot this little account, I am giving up on continuing Butterflies & Hurricanes. I am actually very saddened for this, because I hate giving up on things I had said myself I would finish, but in this case I have to admit defeat! I just grew out of it, there's no other reason. I've never been much of a writer, it's not really my area and as such it's not something super natural to me, it doesn't come easily. Although I do enjoy reading very very much :)

I am so very sorry for those who waited for new chapters and put this story in their 'alerts'. And thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to all who faved this story and reviewed it, it means a lot :)

Maybe one day, if I'm in the mood for it, I'll present you with a one-shot. It's more my type of thing, I realized.  
THANK YOU ALL! "


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